advertisement

Aurora Christian prevails at showdown

Aurora Christian senior guard Pat McNamara enjoyed playing Saturday at Hinsdale Central, site of the 19th High School Hoops Showdown.

"This is my first time playing in a big gym, and I loved it. I love the crowd, I know there's a lot of history in the gym, so that's really cool," he said.

Regardless of setting, against St. Francis the Eagles played the winning offense and 2-3 zone defense that's mainly served them thus far. Forcing 16 turnovers and shooting 54 percent from the floor Aurora Christian beat its former Suburban Christian Conference foe 52-42.

"We really wanted to take away the 3-point shooting," said Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara, like his son. "No. 22 (Gabe) Johnson's really good, they've got about four guys who can shoot, so we really wanted to push out. They shot 2 for 18 from beyond the arc, so the guys did a real good job."

St. Francis (6-12) only committed 5 second-half turnovers but its first three possessions of the game allowed Aurora Christian (14-4) to set an early template.

The Spartans lost the ball twice and missed a 3 while Eagles forward R.D. Lutze hit a 3 and McNamara converted a steal. McNamara and Jeremiah Wright each had 4 steals in the game and Andrew Behrens grabbed 3.

Jake Wolfe's inside bucket and another Lutze 3 gave Aurora Christian a 10-2 lead at 4:17 of the first quarter. The Eagles never trailed or saw the game tied.

"We had two or three different set plays that we wanted to run against (the zone defense). But once we got in the game it just wasn't clicking, it really wasn't," said Johnson, whose 11 points led St. Francis.

Aurora Christian led 29-19 at halftime, scoring 14 points off the break. Three times, however, St. Francis pulled within 8 in the third quarter.

Tim Lilly, Greg Bogdanski, Johnson and 6-foot-5, 250-pound Shane Walker led the Spartans within 37-29 after three quarters, then Johnson began the fourth swishing a 3 from the right wing to cut it to 37-32.

"When we take care of the ball and guys share the ball with each other and they're patient we get good shots," said St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer.

St. Francis briefly showed a 2-3 zone, but Aurora Christian patiently realigned personnel and scored on McNamara's pass inside to Wolfe.

The Eagles forced a turnover and the senior McNamara called time. Once back, Behrens scored inside then Wolfe added a pump-fake basket. With 1:56 left to play Aurora Christian's lead was back up to 50-36.

Lutze and Wolfe each scored 14 points, Lutze adding 9 rebounds. McNamara scored 11 points with 5 assists. Lilly tallied 8 and Nick Cooney 7 for the Spartans.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.