Czerak brothers shoot Aurora Central Catholic past Aurora Christian

Most opponents are well aware of Brett Czerak's long-range shooting ability.

Aurora Central Catholic's senior guard surpassed the 1,000-point mark midway through his junior season when he averaged 20 points per game and made 46 percent of his 3-point attempts (69 for 151).

It must run in the family.

Junior guard Kyle Czerak connected for five 3-pointers, including 3 consecutive long-range baskets in the first quarter, and finished with 21 points during the Chargers' 67-45 victory over host Aurora Christian (3-1) at Saturday night's conclusion of the Burney Wilkie Classic in Aurora.

"Kyle came out and really lit it up in the first half," Chargers coach Nate Drye said of the younger Czerak's 15-point opening half that helped propel his team to a 34-19 lead at the intermission.

"He was knocking down everything in sight."

Kyle Czerak's fourth 3-pointer of the half extended the Chargers' lead to 24-13 before Aurora Christian sophomore Colton Schutt converted a rare 4-point play to make it 24-17 with 3:02 remaining in the second quarter.

From there, ACC (3-1) closed out the half on a 10-2 run that included 3 free throws from Kyle Czerak as well as a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Mac Cowen (9 points).

"I thought that 3-pointer that Mac hit at the end of the first half was a huge shot, too," said Drye. "It was just a big momentum thing to push it (the lead) up to 15."

The Chargers' double-digit halftime lead seemed even larger considering the fact that Brett Czerak had 4 first-half points on 2-for-4 shooting.

"That's one of the things this year - he can recognize that he doesn't have to carry as much of the load," Drye said of the elder Czerak. "We've got other guys who can score. He's getting so much defensive pressure that he can kind of let the game come to him a little more this year."

Aurora Christian whittled a 22-point deficit to 14 at 48-34 after 3 quarters but was unable to draw any closer during a rough shooting night (15 for 55 - 27 percent) that included just 4 of 29 accuracy from beyond the arc (14 percent) against ACC's zone defense.

"For whatever reason, it wasn't our night and we move on," said Eagles coach Dan Beebe. "I thought we had a lot of good looks in the first half but we just didn't hit too many of them."

Brett Czerak scored 14 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter as the Chargers captured the tournament title in a point-differential tie-breaker with Harvest Christian and the host Eagles.

"Kyle's been fantastic for us this year," Czerak said of his younger brother.

Meanwhile, Kyle Czerak insisted his team's victory began at the defensive end.

"We extended (our zone) a lot tonight," he said. "We knew that their inside presence wasn't as big as their 3-point game."

Marcos Quiles' first basket of his varsity career (goaltending) made it 67-45 with 29 seconds remaining.

"I was told we needed to win by 17 (to win the title)," said Drye. "The goaltending call helped."