Aurora Christian holds off LaSalle-Peru

Suddenly, the boys on the Aurora Christian basketball team were no longer laughing.

The 20-point lead the team enjoyed against LaSalle-Peru midway through the third quarter had virtually vanished under the Cavaliers' 3-point assault Saturday evening at the Plano Christmas Classic.

But the Eagles, who never trailed in the quarterfinal, persevered to win their eighth consecutive game, 77-69, in Plano.

Fourth-seed Aurora Christian will face No. 1 seed Dixon at 7 p.m. Monday in the first semifinal.

"You have to play hard for 32 minutes," L-P coach Jim Cherveny said of his team pouring in 29 fourth-quarter points after the Eagles outscored his squad 22-11 in the third quarter. "You run out of two things: you run out of gas and you run out of timeouts. Eventually, you lose the game."

Juwan Sisco gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead late in the first half.

But L-P (5-4) responded with an 8-point burst, only to see Aurora Christian (8-1) score the final 4 points of the second quarter to garner a 36-29 halftime lead.

"We always stress that the most important part of the game is the first three minutes of the game and the first three minutes of the second half," Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara said.

The Eagles obviously listened intently to the halftime message.

Wes Wolfe, who led both teams with 17 points, had a 3-point field goal and 3-point conversion on consecutive possessions to cap a 19-4 run bridging the middle quarters.

Aurora Christian led 53-33 after the second 3-point Wolfe possession.

"We always try to win that (stretch)," Wolfe said. "We limited the turnovers and crashed the boards."

The Eagles' lead was still quite comfortable, 57-40, entering the final quarter.

But then the Cavaliers became unconscious from beyond the arc.

The team would ultimately drain six 3-pointers in the last quarter after opening the fourth with 5 straight free throws as part of a 7-0 run.

Conversely, the Cavaliers did not allow Wolfe another point in the fourth quarter.

L-P guard Kobey Fusinetti hit one of his three fourth-quarter field goals to bring the Cavaliers to within 63-57.

Two more L-P 3-pointers would bring the Cavaliers to within three late.

"We were kind of shocked they kept hitting all those threes in a row," Sisco said.

But the senior forward would have a perfect tonic for Aurora Christian.

With L-P trapping full-court, Sisco was able to score two critical field goals in transition.

Sisco finished with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

R.D. Lutze had 14 points, with Pat McNamara (11) and Zach Singer (10) combining for 21 more.

Fusinetti led L-P with 16 points.