Aurora Christian, St. Edward, Timothy Christian and Wheaton Academy will leave the Metro Suburban Conference and join the newly formed Chicagoland Christian Conference effective with the 2023-24 school year, the schools announced Friday.

The collective Wheaton Academy resolve never wavered. The Class 2A Aurora Christian boys basketball regional championship game came down to the final possession Friday night.

There were some memorable senior moments Friday night at IC Catholic Prep, but there also were some key contributions from a youngster as well.

St. Edward clinched a share of the Metro Suburban Red Conference title Friday night, a feat the Green Wave hadn’t accomplished since … well, nobody could seem to remember how long it had been since the Wave won a boys basketball conference title.The Wave celebrated their latest title following a 52-43 win against visiting Westmont.

Lisle’s Tubari Stewart opened up Tuesday’s game with a highlight-reel play.The senior center blocked Westmont’s first shot of the game, sending a message that this could be a special game for him.

St. Edward jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first five minutes of its home game against Westminster Christian Tuesday night and never looked back, overwhelming the Warriors, 66-37 in a non-conference contest.

It didn’t take long at all for the packed homecoming crowd at Timothy Christian to get a sense that Trojans center Ben VanderWal was primed to put on a special performance Friday night against visiting Wheaton Academy.

Ben VanderWal wasn’t apparently quite content with letting the ink dry on his signature performance.

Pick your poison with the St. Francis boys basketball team. They can score in transition, as they did in the first quarter Friday, racing out to a 17-8 lead over rival Wheaton Academy with a hatful of easy layups — 7 of them, as a matter of fact.

The Royals were ranked ninth in the most recent Associated Press Class 4A poll and eighth by one of the Chicago daily newspapers. Deryn Carter’s group was 16-1 overall and 7-0 in Upstate Eight play after wins against Elgin and East Aurora.Of note in those two conference games, Larkin broke the all-time record for largest margin of victory in the Larkin-Elgin crosstown series. Carter also believes the Royals are off to the best start in school history, as well as the owners of the most consecutive wins in a single season in school history.