Practice pays off for Behr, Wheaton Academy in win

Wheaton Academy's Gordon Behr wasn't perfect from the foul line, but the hour's worth of practice he put in Saturday made a difference.

A 6-foot-6 sophomore, Behr made 8 of 10 free throws and the Warriors hit 19 of 25 overall, the key to Wheaton Academy's 45-40 victory over Aurora Christian in West Chicago.

When Behr went 0-for-2 from the line Friday against Marian Central, something had to give.

"I've been struggling all year on those, so to have such a good game from the free-throw line for me, it meant a lot," said Behr, who tied Aurora Christian's C.J. Schutt for game honors with 14 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Warriors guards Lars Olson and Collin Roy scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, to help Wheaton Academy (5-4, 2-1) hand Aurora Christian its first loss in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division at 2-1, and 7-2 overall.

"He's a good free-throw shooter," Warriors coach Paul Ferguson said of Behr, "and then today he put that extra time in with me to really work on it when everyone left. That was the difference in the game."

Ferguson said his squad had trouble finding offensive flow against Aurora Christian's 1-2-2 zone. That was apparent after the Warriors led 15-9 after a quarter then went 1-for-10 from the floor, allowing Aurora Christian an 18-17 halftime lead.

Considering Aurora Christian came in averaging 69 points, that meant Wheaton Academy's man-to-man defense also was working.

"You've got to give them credit," said Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson, whose team beat Aurora Central 59-51 on Friday. "They played physical and tried to stop our cuts and got into us physically. We just ran out of gas, to be honest with you, just had nothing left."

Wheaton Academy made 7 of 8 third-quarter free throws to enter the fourth quarter leading 31-24, but a 14-3 run gave Aurora Christian a 38-34 lead with 3:16 left.

"Basketball is a game of runs," said Schutt, who grabbed 8 rebounds. "You can be up 10 points and you can be losing two minutes later."

Wheaton Academy's Roy helped demonstrate that when he received Cameron Harvey's kick-out pass and canned a 3 from the left baseline.

"Got to step up," said Roy, who had missed four straight shots beyond the arc.

Behr's two free throws reclaimed a 39-38 Warriors lead with 1:42 to play, then the sophomore blocked a shot by the 6-6 Schutt and was fouled. Behr hit two more for a 41-38 lead with 32 seconds left.

Ryan McQuade's two free throws pulled Aurora Christian within 41-40, but in the last 20 seconds Roy and Olson combined for four free throws while the Eagles were limited to an off-balance shot 20 feet away.

"Aurora Christian is a very well-coached team and they're a very experienced team with their state tournament (supersectional) run last year, so for us to get this win was a good win for us." Ferguson said.

McQuade scored 7 points and Ryan Suttle scored 7 and grabbed 9 rebounds for Aurora Christian.