Playing on Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium for the second time in 24 hours, the Aurora University men's basketball team took care of business as they ran away from Lakeland University in the second-half to win 96-80.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE:  Aurora University 96; Lakeland University 80
LOCATION: Aurora, Illinois – Thornton Gymnasium
RECORDS: Aurora University 11-6; 9-3 NACC; Lakeland University 7-10; 5-8 NACC
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams shot the ball well right from the start as the teams put up 28 combined points in the first five minutes of action.
AU led 13-7 behind a three from Max Vickers but Lakeland stormed right back to take an 18-15 lead.
With 10:48 to play, the game was tied 23-23 before the Spartans started a 9-1 run led by a pair of three's from Pat Kramp and another from Chris Mahoney.
Lakeland answered with an 11-4 run as AU led 36-35 with just under five minutes to play in the opening half.
Spartans Max Vickers and Ty Carlson then led a 10-0 AU run for the games largest lead to that point of 11 (46-35).
Heading into halftime, Lakeland went on a 9-2 run bringing the Spartan lead down to four as the teams went to the locker room with the score at 48-44 in favor of the Spartans.
Nine Spartans scored in the first-half while Lakeland shot a remarkable 66.7-percent from three-point range.
The Muskies hit an early three pointer in the second half to cut the Spartan lead to just 1 but the Spartans would not relinquish the lead the rest of the game.
In the span of 1:30, AU ran off a 9-2 run to lead by 11 (67-56) and pushed the game on the brink of bring over.
Leading by eight (78-70) with 6:40 to play, the Spartans put the game out of reach with a 9-0 run with seven points courtesy of Ty Carlson.
Up 17 (87-70), with just over four minutes to play, the Spartans slowed down the offense down the stretch, working the clock on their way to a NACC victory.
Spartan Josh DeHaan finished the scoring with a three just before the shot clock for AU's 96th point.

BEYOND THE BOX
The Spartans bench out scored Lakeland 34-9.
AU turned up the defense in the second-half, holding Lakeland to a much more respectable 38.7-percent shooting from the field.
AU held a 19-9 assist to turnover ratio while out-rebounding Lakeland 37-35.

FOR THE SPARTANS
Ty Carlson led the Spartans with a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds while also dishing out five assists.
Max Vickers recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. He was three-of-four from three-point range and added three steals.
Jordan LaGrone had 11 points off the bench.
Pat Kramp and Marcus Myers had nine points.
Chris Mahoney had six points and three assists.
 
SPARTAN STAT LEADERS
POINTS: Ty Carlson (25). Max Vickers (20) and Jordan LaGrone (11)
REBOUNDS: Ty Carlson (11) and Max Vickers (10)
ASSISTS: Ty Carlson (5) and Matt Dunn (4)
STEALS: Max Vickers (3) and Marcus Myers (2)
 
UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Wednesday, January 25 when they host Concordia University Chicago. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. on Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium.