Aurora Christian gets even with Marmion
Aurora Christian guard Jake Wolfe is so good - and so young - he could have given the Aurora Christian student section a new twist on a familiar cheer during the Eagles' 64-48 win over Marmion Friday night.
At one point when Wolfe drained a 3-pointer to answer one of the rare triples that dropped for the Cadets, the Eagles fans broke out the "he's a fresh-man!" chant.
Wolfe actually is young enough that they could have said "he's in eighth-grade" to taunt a rowdy Marmion student section that had plenty of chants of its own.
Wolfe is the youngest student in Aurora Christian's freshman class, yet his play looks like a seasoned vet. He finished with 10 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals as Aurora Christian (16-5, 3-2 in Suburban Christian Conference) denied Marmion (11-11, 4-1) a chance to clinch the outright SCC title.
"He's tough," Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara said. "He's got maturity beyond his years. He should be in eighth grade. He knows the game. He does a good job getting the ball to guys, executing. He's one of our smartest players. He knows all the sets and what we're trying to do."
Perhaps the most impressive stat for Wolfe? Friday marked his seventh start. Aurora Christian is 7-0 in those games.
"Jake has come on big this year," junior RD Lutze said. "He's had a great year so far. He's stepped up."
Wolfe, the son of former Michigan State standout Todd Wolfe, is joined on the Eagles by older brother Wes who had 8 points Friday. Their youngest brother Will is in seventh grade.
The highlight of those 7 assists came in the third quarter on an alley-oop that Zach Singer slammed home. That came during an 18-1 Eagles run to take a game they had been in command of all night - leads of 18-11 after one quarter and 33-20 at halftime - and turned it into a 54-27 blowout late in the third quarter.
"That was a game we had circled on our schedule since the beginning of the season," Lutze said. "It's just a great win for us. We worked inside-out an that was the key to the game."
Senior center Juwan Sisco made just his second start of the season and gave the Eagles a lift with 7 points, 7 rebounds and strong defense on Marmion's leading scorer Jake Esp.
"It was a lot of fun starting and showing what I can do on the court," Sisco said. "I just do everything as hard as I can in practice and then I come out in games and do what I do in practice."
Coach McNamara's son Pat scored all 8 of his points in the first half including the first 5 of the game for a quick 5-0 lead. The Cadets never caught up, hitting just 9 of 28 shots in the first half and 17 of 52 for the game (32.6 percent) against the Eagles' 2-3 zone while also sinking just 10 of 21 free throws and 4 of 21 3s.
After the Eagles closed the first half on an 8-0 run, Jordan Glasgow made a pair of 3s early in the third quarter to get Marmion within 36-26. Lutze knocked down two 3s of his own during the 18-1 flurry that followed, both assisted by Jake Wolfe, as the Eagles blew the game open.
"They shot lights out," Marmion coach Joe Currie said. "Jake (Esp) couldn't hit his outside shots. We didn't finish down low. Hats off to them. They did a nice job with their game plan."
Marmion played without Hunter Weber, the hero of the Cadets' fourth-quarter comeback from 13 points down in the first meeting with Aurora Christian, out after picking up a flagrant foul against Barrington.
Glasgow led with 19 points, Esp scored 10 and Matt Fletcher had 8 points and 11 rebounds.
Lutze paced Aurora Christian with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Singer scored 11.
Marmion can win the SCC outright by beating St. Francis on Feb. 17. If the Spartans win there will be a three-way tie between the Cadets, Spartans and the streaking Eagles.
"We're just playing a little better defense, a little better rebounding, moving the ball and taking care of it," coach McNamara said.