Box Score The Aurora University men's basketball team hosted the Eagles from Benedictine University Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament. AU built a substantial lead in the first half and fought off a second half surge from BU on their way to a 87-67 win.
Aurora put together a quick 12-6 run to open the game which was lead by senior Mark Adams who contributed six points during this streak.

The Spartans continued their hot play and extended this lead to 11 over the next six minutes of play. With 9:29 left in the opening half the score was 24-13 in favor of the home team.

AU seemed like they were not going to let up and extended this lead to 18 as Mike Bumber nailed a three-pointer with 2:33 left in the half. However, BU outscored the Spartans 9-4 over the remainder of the half to cut the deficit to 13 heading into halftime.

In the first half, the Spartans outplayed the Eagles on both sides of the ball. Aurora shot 48.7 percent from the field while holding their opponent to just 30 percent shooting. Also, the Spartans protected the ball well in the first and did not turn the ball over once.

Bumber led all scorers with 11 points. His teammates Adams and junior Scott Laskowski added nine points each while freshman Kalmon Stokes contributed eight. Esteban Vega did not find the scoreboard in the first half, however, he was spectacular at finding his open teammates and tallied seven assists.

Second half play opened up slowly with both teams jockeying back and forth for over six minutes where
Aurora then went on a 13-2 run capped off by another Bumber three which followed up a Stokes dunk. These two plays brought the energy back to the home crowd who rocked Thornton Gymnasium with their chants. This run made the score 71-52 with just over eight to play.

Benedictine fought back within 13 over the next couple of minutes but the Spartans were able to fight off the Eagles' attempts. Aurora rolled to victory over the final minutes of the game. When it was all over, the Spartans won by a score of 87-67.
Five different Spartans racked up double digit points. Adams led with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Vega scored 17 (all in the second half) and finished one assist shy of a double-double with nine. Joining Adams and Vega as double digit scorers on the day were Stokes (16 points), Bumber (14 points) and Laskowski (13 points).

Aurora shot 47.8 percent in the game and held the visitors to only 33.3 percent from the field.

With the win, Aurora improves their record to 20-6, but more importantly advances in the 2013 NAC Tournament and will host the semi-final round on Tuesday, February 19, at 7 pm in Thornton Gymnasium. The Spartans will take on No. 3 seeded Dominican University.