The Aurora University men's basketball team clinched an appearance in the upcoming Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament with an 83-77 win at Marian University. AU got a strong effort from senior forward Max Vickers who led all scorers with 22 points.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Aurora University 83, Marian University 77
LOCATION: Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
RECORDS: Aurora University 13-11 overall and 11-8 in the NACC; Marian University 7-17 overall and 5-14 in the NACC

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The first-half saw the Spartans and Sabres trade leads 14 times.
- AU trailed going into halftime 37-35.
- The Spartans opened the second-half on a 12-0 run with five points from Tyler Carlson and a three from Max Vickeers.
- AU led 47-37 with 15:50 left in the second-half.
- With 13 minutes to play, AU led by a then game high 12 points when Vickers made another three.
- After Marian cut the lead down to six (64-58) with 9:21 on the clock, the Spartans answered with a 7-0 run.
- A Jesse Young lay-up gave AU a 71-58 lead with 5:51 to play.
- The Spartans led by nine at 80-71 with two minutes to play.
- Marian made a pair of three's on consecutive possessions to cut the AU lead to three (80-77) with 41 seconds to play.
- AU quickly responded though, breaking the Marian pressure with Bailey Vance converting a lay-up.
- AU would go on to win 83-77.

SPARTAN TOP PERFORMERS
- Max Vickers led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed six rebounds.
- Bailey Vance had 19 points and eight rebounds
- Brandon James had 14 points in 16 minutes of action.

SPARTAN GAME STAT LEADERS
POINTS: Max Vickers (22), Bailey Vance (19) and Brandon James (14)
REBOUNDS: Bailey Vance (8) and Tyler Carlson (7)
ASSISTS: Terrell Wilson (5)
STEALS: Max Vickers, Tyler Carlson and Terrell Wilson (2)

UP NEXT:
Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Saturday, February 16 when they travel to Concordia University Chicago. Game time is set for 4:15 p.m. in River Forest, Illinois.