The Aurora University Spartans men's basketball team hosted the Regents of Rockford University on Thursday night.  After opening up the game on a 9-0 run, the Spartans built a strong lead and coasted to a 94-72 win.

After AU junior Tyler Hall opened up the scoring, Kalmon Stokes added five points to make it a quick 7-0 game forcing a Rockford timeout.

The Spartans continued their ways after the timeout going on a 20-9 run led by eight points on three baskets from junior guard Garret Williams. Following two of Williams three-pointers in the first-half, Rockford burned a timeout.

AU furthered their lead over the remainder of the half to take a 53-29 lead into halftime. Aurora shot an astounding 57-percent in the half (20-of-35) as well as 46-percent from 3-point range (6-of-13). Leading scorers were Williams (10), senior Brandon Smith (eight) and Stokes (7 points and five rebounds). The Spartan defense held the Regents to only 30-percent from the field (9-of-30) and forced 12 turnovers. The AU bench came on strong with 25 first-half points.

The Spartans continued their hot play into the second half and extended their lead to 29 points with 16:05 left to play. Rockford, however, went on a 23-11 run to cut the lead to 17 points with just over 5 minutes to play but that was as close as they would get.

James Lancaster's Spartans regrouped and cruised to the 22 point victory for their fifth win of 2014-2015 and third in a row.

Williams finished the night with 15 points leading an AU bench that had 43 in the game. Senior Kyle Pilmer also had 15 points with four rebounds and three blocked shots, Stokes finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds and Smith had 13 points. Joining Williams in the bench scoring was senior Joe Kwiatkowski (six points and seven rebounds) and freshman Denzel Irving (seven points and four rebounds). In all, 14 Spartans scored with 16 players seeing action.

With the win, AU is now 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Saturday, December 6 when they travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College. Game time is set for 4:15 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.