Box Score The Aurora University Spartan men's basketball team hosted the rival Eagles from Benedictine University on Saturday night to start off the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament in the 142nd all-time meeting between the two programs.

The fourth seeded Spartans were able to build up a lead during early play but the fifth seeded Eagles started to stage a comeback.  Aurora then hit key last minute shots to ice the game and advance in the tournament by a final score of 62-56.

AU opened up the game slowly as they fell down to a small 8-4 deficit to the Eagles just over five minutes into play.

The Spartans then amassed 18 points to the Eagles six points to take a commanding 22-14 lead late in the first half.  The rush was led by sophomore forward CJ Schutt whose strong physical play allowed him to get open underneath the basket for eight points during this stretch.

Aurora continued their fast-paced play on both sides of the ball but Benedictine seemed to make a few adjustments over the remainder of the half.  The teams headed to the locker room with the scoreboard reading 30-22 in favor of the home Spartans.

After the slow start, the Spartans picked up their game to shoot a good 13-29 (44.8%) from the field and 3-8 from beyond the arc. Much of this support came off of the Spartan bench including six points from Nick Kladas, five points from Tyler Hall, and eight from Schutt. AU stayed quick on defense as well and forced the Eagles to shoot a poor 9-31 (29%) from the field.

Aurora seemed to pick up some momentum to start the second half and padded their lead to 14 points, 47-33, as there was just over 11 minutes to play in the game.  However, something sparked the Eagles who made a game out of what seemed to be turning into a blowout.

Benedictine scored 18 points over the next six minutes to Aurora's four.  This tied the game at 51-51 with 5:27 left after Aurora had a 14 point lead just minutes earlier.

The two teams exchanged two point baskets once more before Schutt took the lead back for the Spartans, 55-53.  The pace of the game then slowed down as AU and BU took the battle into the final minutes.

Benedictine's Tim McGinty was sent to the line with 2:52 left but split the pair and the Spartans kept the lead by a single point. Gavin Walker extended the AU lead to three points as he came down the court and drove the lane for a smooth lay-up.

BU came down and nailed a critical jumper with 1:45 left to play and drew within one point again, 57-56.

Aurora was not going to let their season end tonight, and junior Brandon Smith's ensuing three-pointer made it a four point game and brought the near capacity Thornton Gymnasium crowd to a defeaning roar. The Spartans then stole the ball and solidified the 62-56 victory with a layup by junior Kyle Pilmer.

The win improves AU to 18-8 overall and they advance to take on top seeded Marian University in the NACC semifinals. 

The Spartan bench of Kladas (12 points), Schutt (11 points and six rebounds), Hall (11 points and three assists) and junior Joe Kwiatkowski (one point, six rebounds and three assists) led the way with 35 points. Pilmer finished with 10 points and nine rebounds while Smith had eight points and six rebounds.

Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Wednesday, February 26 when they travel to Marian University. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Fond du Lac, Wis.