ACC again wins thriller over Aurora Christian, this time in 2 OTs

There is arguably no game quite like basketball.

Aurora Central Catholic certainly proved that Friday night at home in its 79-74 classic double-overtime Suburban Christian Conference Blue victory over neighborhood rival Aurora Christian.

After scoring a mere 17 points in the opening half, Aurora Central erupted for 27 points in the third quarter.

Joey Guth, the Chargers' star senior guard, fouled out with two minutes and change after leading both teams with 23 points.

Aurora Christian junior Trenton Pouncy did not even enter the game until the last half-minute, and yet his 2 free throws with 12.8 seconds remaining sent the game into the first extra session.

Aurora Christian was on the cusp of victory, virtually assured of evening the season series with a 67-64 lead in the waning seconds of the first overtime.

That is until Aurora Central junior guard Ryan Harreld, held scoreless in the first half, drained his fourth 3-pointer with three seconds remaining to force a second four-minute period.

That is when Steve Hollon took over.

The Chargers' guard failed to score from the field in the first five periods, only to convert three consecutive scores in the second overtime, feed Paul Kaminski for the go-ahead field goal and then hit four straight free throws to ice the game.

"It was a great high school game," Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson said. "That's twice this year we've let them off the hook. (Hollon) was probably the difference in the game. We couldn't keep him out of the lane (in the second overtime)."

"I knew they were going to collapse on me," said Hollon of his feed to Kaminski to negate a Ryan Suttle 3-pointer that gave Aurora Christian a 74-73 lead with 1:12 to go in the second overtime.

Hollon had 15 points for the night.

Aurora Christian, who lost 82-78 in the first meeting with ACC, had two more chances to take the lead, but the squad misfired on both attempts.

Hollon, who finished with 15 points, finally settled the grueling contest before a jam-packed, raucous crowd with 4 free throws in the final 26 seconds.

"It was a great atmosphere," said Hanson.

Aurora Christian (8-12, 3-4) outscored the Chargers (11-8, 5-1) 20-5 in the second quarter to take a 30-17 lead into the break.

But Aurora Central unleashed its dormant offense with devastating effect in the third; Guth had back-to-back 3-pointers as part of his 15-point frame to knot the contest at 44-44 after three.

It was the first of three straight ties at the buzzer.

Pouncy scored his only points to tie the game at 57-57 at the end of regulation, and Harreld drained a bomb from the right wing to force a second overtime tied at 67-all.

"There wasn't much we could do," said Harreld, who scored all 15 of his points after halftime. "We needed a 3."

There were seven players in double figures.

Nick Marema paced Aurora Christian with 19 points, followed by 14 from Suttle and 10 by CJ Shutt.

Joey McEachern did yeoman work on the glass, scoring 11 points to augment the 53 combined points from Guth, Hollon and Harreld.