The AU men's basketball team hosted the Warriors of Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday evening in Thornton Gymnasium. The Spartans capitalized on a hot shooting second half and defensive intensity to run past the Warriors 95-70.
 

The Spartans and the Warriors remained close for the beginning of the first half. With only 12 minutes remaining the score was 19-17 in favor of the Spartans.

AU, however, began to pull away from the Warriors with a 14-3 run over the next 4:15 to expand their lead to 13. The Spartans continued to control the ball throughout the remainder of the first half despite the Warriors trimming the lead down to eight on several occasions. Tyler Hall and Brandon Smith led the Spartans with nine and eight points respectively in the opening frame. AU went into halftime with a lead of 41-32.
 

The second half saw the Spartans dominate of both ends of the court with an almost unreal shooting performance in the first 10 minutes. AU maintained only a 12 point lead three minutes into half. That is when on a fast-break, junior Kalmon Stokes delivered a rim punishing dunk that ignited the Spartans while pushing the lead to 53-39.

Over the next 6:24 of game action, AU went on a 26-10 run to push their lead to 30 (79-49). In the opening 10 minutes, AU shot a remarkable 13-of-16 from the field and two of the three misses were followed with offensive rebounds.

The final 10 minutes saw AU maintain a comfortable lead in the 20's before coasting to the 25-point win at 95-70. 14 of 16 Spartans who played scored and 11 Spartans played over 10 minutes with no player seeing more than 18 minutes on the court in the game. AU senior Kyle Pilmer led all scorers with 18 points, sophomore Phil Schuetz had 12 points and Smith added 10 points. Senior Gavin Walker had 10 assists and 14 Spartans grabbed a rebound with senior Sean Gant having a team-high with five.