The 2017-2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference men's basketball regular season championship returned to Aurora University with a 96-75 win over Marian University on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon. Coupled with the Spartan win, rival Benedictine University fell at Edgewood College giving AU the outright NACC crown and AU will be the host of the inaugural NACC men's basketball tournament final four on Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24, 2018 on Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium as the No. 1 seed.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE:  Aurora University 96; Marian University 75
LOCATION: Aurora, Illinois – Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium
RECORDS: Aurora University 17-8; 16-4 NACC; Marian University 11-14; 10-10 NACC
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- AU recognized the five senior Spartans, Ben Bowen, Justin Galusha, Pat Kramp, Chris Mahoney and Marcus Myers along with senior manager Tristan Spivey prior to gametime.
- Spartan Head Coach Lance Robinson started the five seniors with a three from Bowen giving AU an early 7-4 lead.
- AU took the lead for good on a three from Ty Carlson, who came in off the bench, at 12:57 of the first-half.
- Leading 20-15 midway through the half, AU then took off on a 16-2 run to blow the game wide open.
- Marian managed to get back to down 14 (44-30) but a 5-0 run pushed the lead back to 19 and the Spartans took a 49-32 lead into halftime.
- The teams got off to a slow start in the second-half and with 13:42 to go, AU led by just 13 at 59-46.
- From there though the Spartans went on a 13-5 run fueled by defense and easy lay-ups to lead by 21.
- A three from Max Vickers with 7:25 to go put the Spartan lead into the 20's for the remainder of the afternoon.
- AU led by as many as 26 two times before settling for the 21-point win, 96-75.
 
FOR THE SPARTANS
- Marcus Myers had a double-double with a game-high 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
- Max Vickers had a double-double with 20 points and had 10 rebounds.
- Matt Dunn had 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
- Ty Carlson had 13 points on three-of-five from three-point range.
- Ben Bowen had eight points with a pair of three's.
 
SPARTAN STAT LEADERS
POINTS: Marcus Myers (27), Max Vickers (20), Matt Dunn and Ty Carlson (13)
REBOUNDS: Marcus Myers (11) and Max Vickers (10)
ASSISTS: Matt Dunn (7) and Marcus Myers (5)
STEALS: Demetrius Pointer (2)
 
UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Friday, February 23 when they host the NACC Tournament Final Four. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium with an opponent to be determined.