Aurora Christian hangs on against IC Catholic Prep
A gritty IC Catholic Prep boys basketball team hung with Aurora Christian all four quarters in Saturday's game in Aurora but could never completely close the gap.
The Eagles held off the pesky Knights for a 65-58 win, the team's 19th straight victory.
ICCP, which outscored Aurora Christian by 2 points in the last half of the game, managed to pull within 61-58 with 37 seconds left on Alex Meurer's 3-pointer. The Eagles defense prevented the Knights from scoring the rest of the way and widened the gap by converting 4 of 6 free throw attempts.
"Tonight was a very physical game. I thought we had some good possessions there down the stretch," said ICCP coach T.J. Tyrell. "I thought when we cut it to 3 we were going to get some good looks but we didn't get anything after that."
"I think anytime we play IC in any sport it's always going to be a battle. I think what they had working on us (in the second half) was they were getting in the paint on us," Aurora Christian coach Dan Beebe said. "They got some easy looks and No. 4 (Kevin Cheng) got going a little bit. Typically, we are a little better in stopping that penetration."
Cheng led all scorers with 26 points.
Aurora Christian, the top ranked team in Class 1A, led 18-12 after the first quarter and widened the lead to 37-28 at halftime, thanks in part to the squad's 3-point shooting.
The Eagles canned 6 treys in the first 16 minutes with Jake Wolfe sinking 3 of them. The Lipscomb University bound senior scored 15 of his team-high 24 points in the first two quarters.
Eagles freshman Jaehshon Thomas drained the most dramatic 3-pointer of the night. Thomas (11 points) connected on a 45-foot shot from the near sideline at the second quarter buzzer.
"I knew it was going in," Thomas said. "I practice that shot a lot."
In the second half, ICCP (14-8) limited the Eagles to only one basket from behind the arc.
"Both squads probably talked about (3-point shots) at halftime," Beebe said. "You have to get out and force them off the 3-point line and don't let them get comfortable with it."
Aurora Christian (19-0) maintained its 9-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
Both Taaj Davis and Will Wolfe scored 11 points for the Eagles.
Meuere finished the night with 12 points while teammate Khali Saunders tallied 10 points.