Aurora Central wins OT thriller to maintain SCC lead

Mark Adams' steal and two-hand jam with two minutes left looked like the exclamation point on Aurora Central's showdown with fellow SCC unbeaten Driscoll Saturday night.

Turns out the fun was just starting.

Adams' dunk sent a standing-room only crowd in Aurora into a frenzy, putting the Chargers up 9 points with only 2:11 remaining.

Aurora Central still led by 7 points with 25.2 seconds left, only to see Driscoll drain a trio of 3-pointers, including Jake Lindfors' bomb from 30 feet at the buzzer, to force overtime.

The Chargers regrouped in the extra four minutes. Adams scored the Chargers' first 8 points, leading them to a thrilling 77-73 victory that leaves them alone in first place as they bid for their first SCC title in school history.

"That was the most intense game we've ever played here that I've been a part of," Adams said. "That was huge coming out with this crowd and finishing off the game after that big shot (by Lindfors)."

With the exception of a brief 33-32 lead for Driscoll (11-5, 4-1) midway through the third quarter, the Chargers led all night. Aurora Central (15-1, 6-0) held a 39-38 advantage entering the fourth quarter, then the teams scored nearly as many points in the final quarter and overtime, 38-35.

Lindfors battled foul trouble in the first half, totaling just 4 points and 1 rebound. The 6-foot-10 Albany-bound senior responded in the second half to finish with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, the final 3 coming with his team trailing 67-64. Mark Brauweiler split a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left, Lindfors grabbed the rebound, dribbled up court and let his shot fly while colliding with an ACC defender.

The shot banked in, setting off a wild scene as Lindfors and his teammates celebrated an amazing comeback. Dan Kadlec and Justin Hejza also hit 3s in the final 25 seconds while the Chargers missed 2 of 4 free throws.

"We were all pretty stunned when the shot went in," Aurora Central coach Nate Drye said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of our guys because to come back from a situation like that is just unbelievable."

Adams made 2 free throws to start the scoring in overtime. He got to the line 18 times, hitting 13.

Adams also made some difficult jumpers in the second half. He put his team ahead to stay 73-71 with 1:52 left on a backdoor cut.

"They hit some clutch shots," Adams said. "He's (Lindfors) a great player. We thought we had it in the bag. We had a bad stretch, but they hit some big shots at the end."

The Chargers received a huge lift from their bench, especially sophomore Joey Guth. Guth scored 14 points and made four 3-pointers, including critical ones late in the third quarter and early in the fourth that helped the Chargers open up a lead.

"It was unbelievable," Guth said.

"He scores in bunches," Drye said. "Once he made that first one it was boom, boom, boom. I thought he was responsible for getting us that lead in the third and fourth quarter. He just caught fire. He's a great shooter."

Driscoll's Matt Kaban and Hejza added 18 and 16 points, respectively. Adams paced the Chargers with 29.

Five players -- three for Driscoll -- fouled out. The Chargers made 25 of 36 free throws to Driscoll's 12 of 17, offsetting the Highlanders' 11 three-pointers.

"I thought it was a hard fought game," said Driscoll coach Nick Latorre, whose team was without starting guard David Schwabe (sprained ankle).

"I thought our kids did a good job of never quitting. I thought Adams kind of took over down the stretch. Give them credit, it was a great high school basketball game. It was fun to be involved in it."

Anthony Kelley (12 points) and Nick Czaja (10) joined Adams and Guth in double figures for the Chargers, who are going to enjoy a Sunday reflecting on one of the biggest wins in the program's history.

And if they can keep getting a few more of them, they'll be able to enjoy something no ACC boys basketball team has done before -- finish on top of the Suburban Catholic.

"It's huge," Drye said. "It puts us in first place and everyone has to chase us. We're going to enjoy this one more than tonight. We'll enjoy it all of tomorrow too. After that type of win I'm going to at least let them enjoy it for a day."