Aurora Christian shoots past Aurora Central Catholic
Anyone who can shoot like Aurora Christian's RD Lutze wants to have a point guard who can get him the ball.
Imagine how happy Lutze is in his senior season to have not one but three point guards in the lineup, all of whom make it their top priority to find the open man.
Lutze got free for 5 three-pointers Saturday night in the final game of the Eagles' Burney Wilkie Tournament, scoring 19 points to lead Aurora Christian to a 58-53 win over neighbor Aurora Central Catholic.
Pat McNamara, Jeremiah Wright and Jake Wolfe took turns getting the ball to Lutze. Wright finished with 7 assists and Wolfe had 6.
"Those three guards are my three favorite guards I've ever had," Lutze said. "They are three past-first guys too. When you have three past-first guards as a shooter, that's something you love out there. I'm just fortunate enough to have them on my team."
Two of Lutze's 3-pointers came in the first quarter as Aurora Christian (3-1) took a 20-17 lead. It would have been bigger if not for Brett Czerak's steal and half-court heave at the buzzer.
Aurora Central (1-3) rode the momentum from Czerak's big play with an 11-3 run through the middle of the second quarter to go up 30-28 at halftime. Kyle Czerak hit a 3 early in the third quarter and Evan Schuetz scored inside giving the Chargers their biggest lead at 35-30.
The game turned late in the third quarter. Tied at 37, the Chargers had the ball when Donovan Reid was whistled for a technical foul. Lutze made both free throws and Wright scored in the closing seconds for a 41-37 lead going to the fourth quarter.
"There's no doubt that was the turning point of the game," Chargers coach Nate Drye said. "He was the one who got fouled. At worst, double technical, you can't do something to determine the outcome of the game. Kids work too hard, people put too much into it, to put yourself into the equation. It's not about me, it's not about the refs, it's about the kids. We shouldn't be sitting here talking about it, the kids played a great game."
The Eagles quickly stretched their lead to 45-37 when Wright scored the first 4 points of the fourth.
Schuetz converted a conventional 3-point play to bring the Chargers within 52-46 with three minutes left, but Lutze answered with his final 3 - on another feed from Wolfe - to restore a 9-point lead.
Wright joined Lutze in double figures with 10 points. Andrew Behrens added 8 points.
Wright, Wolfe and McNamara also combined for 11 steals.
"Jeremiah Wright is all over people," Eagles coach Pat McNamara said. "He played a really good game tonight and RD was hitting and we found him. We knew Central would come to play."
Schuetz led the Chargers with 19 points, and Kyle Czerak scored 18 with four 3s.