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Aurora Christian throttles IC Catholic Prep

Pat McNamara can finally get some sleep.

A senior guard for Aurora Christian and the son of coach Pat McNamara, he joined his teammates hoisting the regional plaque Friday following a 65-48 victory over nemesis IC Catholic Prep in the Class 2A Aurora Christian regional championship game.

No. 1 seed Aurora Christian (23-5) won the 13th regional title in school history, the second in four years under coach McNamara.

"I dreamed about it every night," the younger McNamara said. "I haven't gone to bed all week. I just stay up late thinking about cutting down the net. I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing next week."

That's when the Eagles travel south to the Clifton Central sectional, looking for their first sectional crown since 2011. They start play Wednesday against Kankakee McNamara.

McNamara scored 16 points and had 5 steals and along with Jeremiah Wright played at the top of the Eagles' 2-3 zone that worked hard to deny the ball to Will Lyles, who still finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds.

"We've been working extra hard since last year," Wright said. "We're just trying to make it to state. It was all about intensity and defense and keeping them off the offensive glass. We just worked out there. We took it right at them."

No. 4 seed IC Catholic Prep (13-15), who knocked the Eagles out of the regionals the past two years, got off to a fast start leading 10-4 after Austin Reed's second 3-pointer.

The Eagles responded with a 27-6 run over the next 12 minutes to go up 31-16 at halftime. After scoring 4 points in the game's first 5 minutes, the Eagles caught fire and put 14 points on the board in the next 3 minutes, taking an 18-12 lead after one on RD Lutze's buzzer-beating 3 from the corner on a perfect pass from Wright.

Aurora Christian also closed the second quarter with a Lutze 3 just before the buzzer, and in the third quarter worked 50 seconds off the clock before Brock Harner was fouled at the buzzer.

Harner made both free throws, capping three quarters of perfect execution on the final possession.

"Jeremiah made a beautiful pass and ran it at the right time," coach McNamara said of Lutze's 3s. "You feel good when you execute. We've come a long way this season."

The Knights struggled all game defending Jake Wolfe. The sophomore repeatedly beat his defender off the dribble and scored in the paint. Wolfe finished with a game-high 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.

Wolfe opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Lutze followed with another. After putbacks from Andrew Behrens and Harner, Lutze buried two more 3s, the later coming on McNamara's feed that brought the home crowd to their feet watching the Eagles build a 48-25 lead.

"Jake really had a great night, under control," coach McNamara said. "He came up big."

IC rallied, getting as close as 54-44 with 3:28 remaining on the second of Reed's fourth-quarter 3s. The Knights also capitalized when Wright was whistled for his fourth foul and then a technical foul.

Wolfe halted the Knights' momentum with a strong baseline drive, and the Eagles scored the next 9 points at the line before Matt Buhrt closed the scoring with a bucket.

"I'm happy for our guys, they really work hard," McNamara said. "I thought our zone was pretty active."

Lutze added 14 points while Reed paced the Knights with 20.

"It was good to see the resiliency of the boys, but we dug too big of a hole," IC coach T.J. Tyrrell said. "We rushed a couple 3s. The game plan was to work the ball inside and then kick out for 3s. Credit to Wolfe, he killed us driving to the basket. Seemed like we were a step behind everything."

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