The Aurora University men's basketball team started out slowly but used a run midway through the first-half to shoot past the Dominican University Stars and go on to win 90-85 on Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium.
 
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE:  Aurora University 90; Dominican University 85
LOCATION: Aurora, Illinois - Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium
RECORDS: Aurora University 15-7; 13-4 NACC; Dominican University 11-11; 8-9 NACC
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Spartans jumped out to a 6-2 lead 2:20 into the game behind six points from Max Vickers.
Dominican went on a 13-0 run to lead by nine (15-6) with 12:26 to play in the opening half.
AU chipped away at the Star lead, tying the game on a Marcus Myers lay-up with 2:50 to go.
With just under a minute left, Vickers hit a three that started a 10-0 Spartan run to end the first-half.
AU went into halftime leading 40-33 led by Vickers (14 points) and Myers (10 points).
The Spartans opened the second half on a 9-2 run that grew to 13-5 to lead by 15 (53-38) with 16:49 to play.
Over the next eight minutes, the Spartans led by a game-high 16 points on multiple occasions and maintained a double-digit lead with under four minutes to play.
Leading by 11 with 2:06 to go, AU saw the Stars run off eight straight points, cutting the Spartan lead to three at 86-83 with 47 seconds to play in the game.
A lay-up from Matt Dunn and two free-throws from Jordan LaGrone sealed the game on offense before the Spartans forced a turnover from Star Josh Mayberry to end the game.
AU went home happy with a 90-85 victory.

FOR THE SPARTANS
Max Vickers had a team-high 28 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Marcus Myers had 16 points and eight assists.
Jordan LaGrone had 18 points in 20 minutes off the AU bench.
Matt Dunn had 14 points.
 
SPARTAN STAT LEADERS
Points: Max Vickers (28), Jordan LaGrone (18), Marcus Myers (16) and Matt Dunn (14)
Assists: Marcus Myers (8) and Max Vickers (4)
Rebounds: Max Vickers (6) and Marcus Myers (5)
Steals: Max Vickers (2)
 
UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Saturday, February 11 when they travel to Concordia University Wisconsin. Game time is set for 4:15 p.m. in Mequon, Wisconsin.