ACC 60, St. Edward 53; Marmion 65, Driscoll 56

For three and half quarters, the game was a double-digit blowout. By all indications, high-flying Aurora Central would cruise to another big victory.

Then things got heated. St. Edward found a spark. And then the Green Wave got hot. Really hot.

Trailing 54-36 with 4:30 remaining, St. Edward scored 14 unanswered points in a flash. Then, when Brett Manning buried a 3-pointer with 1:01 left, St. Edward was nearly all the way back, having cut the gap to two at 55-53.

That's where Aurora Central extinguished the flame. The Chargers iced the victory by scoring the game's final five points for a 60-53 victory in Aurora on Friday to stay unbeaten atop the Suburban Catholic Conference and move to 16-1 overall.

Afterward, Aurora Central coach Nate Drye's voice echoed from the locker room.

"That's the loudest I've ever yelled after a game," Drye said in a calm tone. "But it's pretty sweet when you're yelling at the guys after a win rather than a loss."

Few could have predicted such a frenetic finish, considering Central's dominance to that point. The Chargers led 15-4 early and expanded that to a 30-12 halftime lead after forcing St. Edward (6-11, 0-7) into 14 turnovers during the first half.

Manning (team-high 19 points) and Riley Coleman (15 points) gave St. Edward some life in the third quarter, but Central countered with its formidable height and athleticism. With Anthony Kelley (6 assists) feeding the post, 6-6 Nick Czaja enjoyed a big night. The junior scored nine of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter as Central added to its lead and took a 44-25 advantage into the final quarter.

Even after St. Edward opened the fourth quarter with two 3-pointers by Coleman and another by Dix in the first 2 ½ minutes, it didn't seem to matter much -- especially when Aurora Central's Mark Adams (20 points) responded with a 4-point play that put Central up 54-36 at the 4:30 mark.

That's when lightning in a bottle exploded for St. Edward. After chopping the deficit to 54-44, the Green Wave took advantage of Aurora Central's ill-advised, errant shots at the other end that allowed them to hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the span of 34 seconds.

"We took advantage," Dix said. "When we start hitting 3s like that, we can come back in any game."

St. Edward scored more points (28) in the fourth quarter than it did in the previous three combined (25). Eleven of the Green Wave's 19 field goals came from beyond the arc.

Coleman hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night, Dix hit an NBA-length shot 18 seconds later and Manning swished from the left corner before the fireworks ended.

"We were knocking 'em down and getting into a nice flow," St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek said. "Unfortunately we weren't able to do it earlier. That's the story of our team. Once we put a whole game together, we'll start winning a few more."

It also helped that St. Edward committed just two turnovers in the second half after some key adjustments at halftime -- and some lax defense by Aurora Central.

"We just stopped guarding people," Drye lamented. "We played stupid down the stretch, to be honest. We have to be smarter. I think we just kind of mailed it in.

"If we're going to be a great team, we've got to finish people off when we're up on them."

Marmion 65, Driscoll 56:ŒMarmion basketball coach Rashon Burno likens his Cadets to a mercurial stock market.

They were pretty bullish Friday night in Addison.

Marmion bounced back from two losses the week before with a 65-56 win at Suburban Catholic Conference rival Driscoll.

Tyler Smith scored 24 points and Bryce Emory added 17 for the Cadets (7-7, 3-4), who lost by 21 to Driscoll in December in Aurora.

"This is a young team," Burno said, "and they're going to be up, and they're going to be down. We just clicked on all cylinders tonight. It's a great win for the school and for the kids."

Marmion came out sizzling from the field, Smith knocking down 3 of the Cadets' six 3-pointers in the first half. Marmion led 28-26 at the half, Driscoll's Don Sullivan banking in a 3-point shot from almost midcourt as time expired. Marmion hit 6 of 10 attempts from 3-point range in the first half.

"We didn't do a very good job contesting their shots," Driscoll coach Nick Latorre said. "They were pretty much shooting uncontested jump shots in the first half and parts of the second half."

Driscoll came back in the third quarter, taking a 42-36 lead with 2:43 to go on a score by Jake Lindfors.

But Smith answered with a 3-pointer and running jumper, and after a Driscoll turnover Luke Kolquist put back a miss to give Marmion a 43-42 lead going into the fourth.

"When they went up in the second half, the kids showed that maturity," Burno said. "I don't know if we could have done that a week ago."

Lindfors knocked down a jumper on the first possession of the fourth quarter, but Emory scored to give Marmion the lead for good at 45-44 with 6:41 left. The Cadets salted the game away with 11 free throws down the stretch.

"We really had a great week of practice, and it showed," Smith said. "We knew we could play so much better."

Lindfors, who scored 12 of Driscoll's 14 points in the fourth quarter, finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Matt Kaban added 11 points and 6 boards, and Justin Hejza 9 points for Driscoll (11-6, 4-2), still without the services of senior guard David Schwabe.

Schwabe, out with a severely sprained ankle, did suit up and could play today against Montini.

"I thought our offense was fine, and we had some good looks," Latorre said, "but our defense was just horrible. We just didn't do a good job closing out."

-- Joshua Welge