The Aurora University men's basketball team traveled to Edgewood College in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon with a heart piunding overtime thrller being the order of the day. AU would fall in overtime 96-94 with a buzzer beating three-pointer in regulation by junior Nick Kladis forcing the extra session.

Edgewood grabbed a double-digit lead in the first-half and with 12:16 to play, led 19-8. The Spartans would storm back and with a Denzel Irving jumper, tied the game 26-26 with 5:38 to go. Going into halftime, AU would trail 34-31. AU senior Brandon Smith led all scorers with 11 points in the opening half.

The second-half saw the tempo pick up with Edgewood shooting 50-percent from the field and AU shooting 60-percent.

AU grabbed a lead early in the half and led by five (52-47) with 12:48 to play. After maintaining the lead for the next three minutes, the Spartans saw the Eagles come back and snatch the lead back.

After sharing the lead back and forth down the stretch, Edgewood took control and built a seven point lead (81-74) with 1:18 to play in the game. Seemingly locking the game up for the home team. AU still trailed by six with 29 seconds to play when Smith hit a three to cut the lead in half.

After two Eagle free-throws, junior Kalmon Stokes hit a three to trim the lead down to two with 13 seconds left. Following a foul that sent Edgewood back to the charity stripe, the Eagle shooter went one of two setting up the final thrilling seconds. Stokes attempted a three from the corner that missed but he was able to corral the rebound and kicked the ball out to Smith who passed to a wide open Kladis. Kladis calmly knocked down the three to force overtime.

In overtime, the Spartans found themselves needing to come from behind once again. Down five (95-90) with 1:31 to play, AU went to work on another come back. But this time, free-throw shooting did them in. In consecutive possessions, Kladis and Stokes went two for five from the line, chipping away at the lead but could have tied the contest. But the Spartans still had a chance to send the game into a second overtime. After a Gavin Walker lay-up with six seconds to play, AU called timeout to set up the defense. On the ensuing in bounds play, AU and Stokes forced a jump ball with the Spartans holding the possession arrow and getting the ball to in bound. On the play, Smith got a shot away but the ball bounded off the back of the rim and Edgewood held on for the 96-94 win over AU.

Stokes finished the day with 26 points, Smith had 22 points and Tyler Hall had 19 points.

With the loss, AU is now 18-7 overall and 15-5 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Saturday, February 21, 2015 when they host the first round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. AUs opponent is yet to be finalized with the game time set for 2:00 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium.