Box Score The Aurora University Spartan men's basketball team renewed their rivalry with the Benedictine University Eagles
Tuesday night in Thornton Gymnasium. After a hard played
game by both teams, AU's
Gavin Walker was sent to the free-throw line with 9.5 seconds remaining and sunk both free-throws to give his team a 75-74 lead and eventual win.
The game began neck-and-neck as the teams swapped leads four times over the first four minutes of play. AU was up 13-11 with 16:01 left after a
Kalmon Stokes three-point basket.
Aurora then opened up the game and built an 11 point lead, 29-18, as they capped off a 19-7 run over the next five and a half minutes.
AU protected this lead well and they were still up by nine, 39-30, with 3:23 left in the half. The Eagles outscored Aurora 7-2 over the final minutes to cut the Spartan lead to just four, 41-37, going into the half.
Key plays in the first half included a monster dunk from Stokes and a couple huge blocked shots from
Kyle Pilmer which got the crowd going and gave the Spartans momentum.
The Eagles continued their strong play to start the second half and grabbed an early lead
Aurora came back with a 12-2 run of their own to go up by nine (55-46) with 14:37 left in the game. The streak was led by sophomore
Brandon Smith who started it with a three and finished it with a smooth layup.
Benedictine slowly cut away at the Spartan lead to climb within two, 63-61, with 8:48 left on the clock. The Eagles continued to pressure and scored the next six points to give them a four point lead with under eight to play.
Both teams would fight for the lead, which changed four more times up to the 2:00 mark of the second half and the Eagles were on top, 74-73. The score would remain the same until just 9.5 seconds were left and Walker was fouled by BUjunior guard Michael Woolf for a one-and-one. Walker hit both and the Spartans held on for the 75-74 victory.
Stokes led all scorers with 18 points including two-of-two from three-point range. Smith had 15 points,
Justin Phipps had 10 points and eight rebounds while Pilmer had eight points and seven rebounds. AU was out-rebounded in the game 50-33.
With the win, AU is now 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Thursday,
December 4 when they travel to Rockford University. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Rockford, Ill.
