No. 1 Aurora Christian rallies to stay unbeaten
Coach Dan Beebe looked at Aurora Christian's victory over Oswego East Saturday at the 8th annual Ernie Kivisto Hoopfest at East Aurora as another win.
Senior Jake Wolfe didn't. Not after the Lipscomb University recruit scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half, rallying his 1A school to a 62-54 win over the 4A Wolves, who entered 15-6 and winners of 12 of their last 13.
That's Aurora Christian with its 238 enrollment over Oswego East at 2,578.
"It matters a lot," Wolfe said. "We marked up this game at the beginning of the year. Obviously we like to prove ourselves. A lot of people disregard us because we're Class A but I think we can play with a lot of 4A schools. I honestly think 4A schools are probably scared to play us."
Of course Aurora Christian isn't your normal 1A school, now 21-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state. Sophomore Will Wolfe made as many clutch shots down the stretch as his older brother, finishing with 21 points.
Trailing 50-46 with five minutes left, Will Wolfe nailed a deep 3 to keep the Eagles close.
Wolfe's shot also ignited a 16-4 run to close the game, with the two brothers scoring 15 of the 16 points.
"We wanted to get the ball out of Jake's hands," Oswego East coach Ryan Velasquez said. "At times it worked, at times it didn't. They are really good basketball players. We knew we can't give them any open looks and we did. You can't give those guys much room because they will take advantage, they will capitalize."
Jake Wolfe followed Will's 3-pointer by going end-to-end and finishing in traffic with his left hand while being fouled. His three-point play put the Eagles ahead to stay, 52-50 with 3:50 left.
Jake Wolfe kept the run going with another hard drive and finish at the rim to make it 54-50. After setting up his teammates with 4 assists in the first half, Wolfe took charge late.
"I took it personal to score the buckets," Wolfe said. "I was dishing it in the first half but I knew down the stretch I wasn't. I was going to finish and help my team win."
Leading 54-52, the Eagles held the ball and made 4 of 6 free throws over the final three minutes to extend the margin. Jake Wolfe also scored two more times on transition drives.
The Wolfe family lives in the Oswego East school district, so the game had even more meaning. Jake Wolfe said he nearly transferred to Oswego East before his sophomore year.
Aurora Christian got off to a quick start up 18-6 but by halftime Oswego East went ahead 30-29, and the Wolves also led 44-42 after three quarters.
Taaj Davis added 9 points for the Eagles, and Zach Zavasnik and Jaehshon Thomas combined for 9 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Raymond Dennis paced the Wolves with 16 points and Kamron Battle had 10. Led by 7 rebounds each from Jake and Will Wolfe, the Eagles outrebounded the Wolves 36-31.
"That was a great high school basketball game," Beebe said. "We hang our hat on the defensive end and we got some big stops. I think the big part is if you stop them, you have to get the rebound and we were fortunate enough to get those rebounds."