Wolfe, Thomas lead Aurora Christian over rival
Will Wolfe and Jaehson Thomas were not terribly neighborly toward the members of the Aurora Central Catholic boys basketball team on Friday night.
The two Aurora Christian standouts scored 10 points apiece in the third quarter as the Eagles broke free from a mere point lead at halftime to romp in the Metro Suburban Conference Blue with a 57-38 victory over the Chargers at ACC.
The two private schools are seemingly separated by a Tiger Woods drive and 3-iron.
"I was just sick and tired of it being a close game," said Wolfe, a junior guard who scored the first 7 points of the third quarter to stretch the Eagles' halftime spread to 24-16. "I was trying to get as far away as possible against them. We just had to play through the adversity."
The "adversity" Wolfe referred to was the noise-challenged ACC gym when filled to the rafters for a neighborhood rivalry game.
ACC also deployed a deliberate strategy for the Eagles to make good on all of their possessions.
The Chargers (3-15, 1-6) were extremely diligent with their first-half possessions.
Not technically in stall mode, ACC attempted all of 23 shots for the game.
Normally a basketball team would not fare very well against an opponent missing a grand total of 9 shots, but Aurora Christian improved to 20-4 overall and 6-1 in the league by matching its entire first-half output in the first four-plus minutes of the third quarter.
Wolfe, who finished with 19 points, and Thomas, who led both teams with 20, combined for 20 of the Eagles' 23 points in the quarter.
"We knew they were going to take the air out of the ball," Aurora Christian coach Dan Beebe said. "Different styles. They really work you hard on the defensive end. We knew we had to get the pace up, get up and down the court and force some turnovers."
"We were trying to work for some good shots," ACC coach Nate Drye said. "We thought if we passed it a few time - (the Eagles) would take chances - and we would get good looks. We struggled getting (the ball) across half-court in the third quarter, and that was the difference in the game."
Aurora Christian forced 10 turnovers in the decisive third quarter as Thomas scored 17 of his game-high points after the intermission.
"I was just focused on locking in and getting my shot down," said Thomas, who finished with four 3-pointers. "I was thinking too much about what I had to do and started playing my game. We just started full-court pressing, trying to get turnovers. It worked."
ACC sixth-man Patrick Kermend hit three 3-pointers in leading the Chargers with 13 points.