No. 2 Winnebago ousts Aurora Christian in sectionals

At the Class 2A Byron sectional semifinal boys basketball game on Wednesday, Aurora Christian met the buzzsaw that is Winnebago.

The No. 2 ranked team in Class 2A, Winnebago beat the Eagles 69-51 to improve its record to 30-0. Point guard Jacoby Posley led the Indians with 19 points and overall Winnebago hit 14 three-point baskets.

“We didn’t close them out at the arc, that was the big thing,” said Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara, whose Eagles were led by Ryan McQuade with 25 points, 18 from the 3-point arc. Johnathan Harrell scored 11 points and Cory Windle 9 for Aurora Christian (19-12).

“They did a good job of that (hitting 3-pointers) and we turned it over and just didn’t rebound well. But they beat us, and they were the better team,” McNamara said.

Winnebago led 37-21 at halftime, and while Aurora Christian pulled within 9 points in both the third and fourth quarter, “we couldn’t get over the hump,” McNamara said.

“We had a good run,” said the Eagles’ first-year head coach, who saw a seven-game winning streak come to a close.

“The kids played very unselfishly the last month and they played hard, tried to ‘think’ the game. We had a great run down the stretch but everybody but four teams lose their last game, so this was us.”

Mooseheart