Box Score The Aurora Universtiy men's basketball team advanced to the 2013 Northern Athletics Conference tournament championship game Tuesday night by defeating Dominican University 71-67 in Thornton
The cold winter's eve must have carried over into Thornton gymnasium as the Spartans struggled to get going offensively. The Spartans shot just 34% from the field and 17% from the three point line in the first half.

The chilly shooting numbers eventually led to Dominican opening up a nine point lead on a Josh Ward three ball.

Following a timeout at the 8:28 mark of the first half the Spartans finally made a charge. AU went on a 11-1 run over the next three minutes that eventually led to a Kyle Pilmer offensive rebound and lay up giving the Spartans a 22-21 lead.

The two teams continued to battle it out for the remainder of the half but went into the break tied up at 29 a piece.

At the half AU was led by Esteban Vega with 11 points, while the Stars' Logan Harris matched Vega with
The Spartans scored the first six points coming out of the half to take a 35-29 lead on a Mark Adams jump shot.

Spartan senior captain Joel Iventosch sparked another run by AU as he knocked down a three at the 13:03 mark the Spartans were to quickly go on a 10-2 run over the next two minutes to push the lead to 13.

The Stars did not go away quietly though. As they began their comeback, they used consecutive threes to whittle away at AU lead.

The Spartans received clutch free throw shooting from Vega and Iventosch down the stretch to close out the game and secure the four point lead.

Vega led all scorers 25 points, while Scott Laskowski chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds. Dominican was led by Anthony Keender who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.

The Spartans will travel to Sheboygan, Wisconsin on Saturday, February 23, to take on Lakeland Collage for the right to be crowned Northern Athletics Conference champion and receive the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 pm.