Woods' career-high 35 leads Harvest Christian past Aurora Christian

Shooting accuracy from 3-point range was an issue the last time the Harvest Christian Academy boys basketball team played at Aurora Christian.

Senior Brennen Woods and sophomore Andre White, Jr. fixed that problem in Friday's rematch, an 86-72 win for the Lions, which allowed Harvest Christian (18-4, 9-0) to maintain its grip on first place in the Northeastern Athletic Conference.

Aurora Christian (12-8, 5-2) won a nonconference meeting between the teams 58-49 on Dec. 2 by holding the Lions to 4-of-28 shooting from 3-point range. By contrast, Harvest Christian sank 11 of 20 shots from long range Friday.

Woods led the way by draining six 3-pointers as part of a career-high 35-point performance.

"I was feeling it tonight," Woods said. "Everybody in the crowd was hyping me up and everybody involved. That got me going in general."

Woods had 20 points at halftime on 8-of-12 shooting, but Aurora Christian was able to reel the Lions back in before the intermission, thanks to Jake Wolfe. The 6-foot-4 junior sank 4 consecutive 3-point attempts in the second quarter to help the Eagles draw within 43-38 at halftime, an improvement considering they trailed 29-16 after a quarter.

Aurora Christian drew within 55-53 with three minutes left in the third quarter on an inside bucket by Wolfe, but White, Jr. ignited a game-deciding 20-2 run with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. He added a conventional three-point play in the fourth quarter en route to a 23-point night.

"We moved the ball and that got me wide open shots so that helped a lot," White, Jr. said.

Aurora Christian made 12 shots from 3-point range, but turnovers were an issue. The Eagles committed 18.

Wolfe finished with 29 points and 9 rebounds for Aurora Christian and senior Tanner Dissell sank five 3-pointers to finish with 23 points.

However, it wasn't enough to keep Aurora Christian from falling 2 games behind the Lions in the loss column.

"They can do everything," Wolfe said of Harvest Christian. "They can shoot, they can drive, they pass the ball very well, they can move very well in the dribble-drive offense that they run. They're a good team, but we're a good team, too."

Junior JJ Flores finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals and freshman Jon Lindquist added 10 points for Harvest Christian.