Aurora Christian cruises past Montini
The first half was not what Aurora Christian's boys basketball team was looking for. The third quarter made up for it.
Outscoring Montini 21-6 in the third quarter on 9-of-12 shooting, the visiting Eagles earned a 64-42 Suburban Christian Conference victory in Lombard.
"Coach (Pat McNamara) literally told us, he could tell we weren't ready to play when we came out to play," said Aurora Christian forward R.D. Lutze. "Especially with playoffs coming we need to be ready to play every single game. We came out in that second half ready to play and that was the biggest difference."
It might have been expected. Aurora Christian (15-5, 2-2) beat Montini 73-41 back on Dec. 4. On Tuesday the Broncos' record dropped to 1-22, 0-5 in the SCC. Also, the Broncos lack 6-foot-5 Kevin Brachmann, who recently had his front teeth knocked out and is not cleared for contact, said acting coach Joe Voss, subbing for ailing head coach Brian Opoka.
But on any given day ...
"Coach told us before the game, we've got to be ready for this game because they're going to come out stronger, they're going to have better chemistry than they did the first time we played them, and we've got to really buckle down on defense," said Aurora Christian guard Jeremiah Wright.
Montini trailed 13-6 after one quarter but got life in the second. Reaching the bonus well before halftime, during a timeout Montini assistant Dan Vashinko encouraged his players to drive and draw fouls.
Mike Mooney, Sam Thomas and particularly Marvin Edwards obliged. Edwards scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the quarter and Montini made 6 of 10 free throws to get within 25-19 by halftime.
"As long as we kept attacking the team, we were just getting a lot of fouls," said Edwards, a 6-foot-2 senior transfer from Plainfield East. "Pretty much all of us kept attacking, getting free throws."
Then Aurora Christian followed their own coach's message.
Aided by Wright's quick hands for 2 steals, Lutze slashed for 5 baskets in the quarter. His putback and then a drive, followed by an open 3 by Coach McNamara's son, also Pat, helped end the quarter on a 13-0 run to put Aurora Christian up 46-25 entering the fourth quarter.
"Everybody was looking for everybody, the ball moved a little bit more," the coach said. "We told them at halftime, you've got to get the ball inside. They made the extra pass and swung the ball. We got easier looks. We got 2s instead of 3s."
Aurora Christian led 54-29 midway through the fourth. Lutze finished with 17 points and Wright, Zach Singer and guard Pat McNamara each scored 8 points. Montini's Kevin Bodee scored 6 points followed by Mooney and Thomas each with 5.