Montini downs Aurora Central for 1st home win

This season no doubt has been a struggle for a rebuilding Montini boys basketball program.

But for one night Friday, everything came together for the Broncos.

Putting five players into double figures, Montini picked up its first home victory of the year with a 72-52 decision over Aurora Central Catholic in Lombard.

"We needed that," said Montini coach Bob Lozano, whose team broke a six-game losing streak. "That was a big win for us. It's been a tough season but these kids haven't let down. They come out and they play hard. We competed and played as a team."

The difference in the nonconference affair was a 30-6 first half run for the Broncos (4-15), which turned an early 17-8 deficit into a 38-23 lead by intermission.

Montini had eight steals in the first half and 16 for the game, forcing the Chargers (7-12) into 22 turnovers for the game.

Antoine Harris had eight points during that second quarter spurt and finished with 13. Jemari Moore led the home team with 15 points.

"We have to continue to work as a team," Moore said. "Every time we lose, we keep our heads up and get ready for the next one. We knew there was going to be tough times in the beginning. We know we will be older next year and we will be good as a team."

Montini has just three seniors on the roster while three freshmen and a sophomore saw time on Friday. Jalen McBride added 12 points and 5 steals for the Broncos and Michael Koszewski and Andrew Stokes each had 10 points.

"We just want to build off this game, especially defensively," Lozano said. "We know we can score. Even the games we've gotten beat, we've put up 65 points. We just haven't been stopping people. We have talked in practice about getting three defensive stops in a row and building off that and we were finally successful with that."

ACC was topped by the 19 points for Donovan Grunloh, 15 of which came in the opening quarter. Danny Cwinski also reached double figures with 14.