Aurora Central Catholic stuffs Aurora Christian's comeback
Aurora Central junior forward Robert DeMyers says he doesn't like to talk trash. While that's undoubtedly a good thing for sportsmanship, it sure cost him plenty of chances to run his mouth Saturday night against visiting Aurora Christian.
DeMyers, a transfer from Waubonsie Valley, blocked 7 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds and dominated the paint in the Chargers' 75-65 victory.
"Every time they went down the lane he was beating down shots left and right and they pretty much were reduced only to shooting 3s," Chargers coach Nate Drye said. "I thought that was huge for our defensive effort."
One on sequence with the Eagles going in for a layup while trying to mount a fourth-quarter rally, DeMyers got there in time to block the shot. The Eagles' Trenton Pouncy snagged the rebound and went up and DeMyers again blocked the shot. Pouncy got the ball back and went right back up, and DeMyers swatted the ball out of bounds, bringing roars of delight from a raucous Chargers student section.
"I didn't think I'd get the first one and he (Pouncy) just kept bringing it up and I kept jumping," DeMyers said.
"It felt as a team we played really good defense. We were able to create some trouble for them on their offensive side."
Aurora Central (3-5, 1-1) never trailed, a contrast to the back-and-forth battles these teams staged a year ago.
The Chargers held a 44-28 halftime lead, their biggest of the game. Aurora Christian (4-4, 1-1) outscored the Chargers 20-7 in the third quarter, then got as close as 55-53 in the fourth on Ryan McQuade's sixth 3-pointer.
Joe Medgyesi answered with a 3-pointer on the Chargers' next trip, and Ryan Harreld hit a pair of 3-pointers down the stretch to help ACC push its lead back out.
Tim Fernandez tied DeMyers for ACC scoring honors with 16 points, and Harreld added 15. Fernandez scored his off the bench, part of a 30-6 advantage for the Chargers reserves.
"The guys that came off the bench were awesome," Drye said.
"We haven't got out to quick starts and we have been playing from behind. We talked about getting out quickly and bringing a lot of energy and I thought our kids did that. It was a big game for us. We need to come out and play hard and get a win."
McQuade led all scorers with 18, all on 3s. Nick Marema and Dean Danos scored 12 and CJ Schutt 10. Danos, the team's leading scorer, missed his first 12 shots.
"Dean wasn't himself," AC coach Steve Hanson said. "I don't know if he was too amped up or trying to do too much.
"We just got off to a horrible shot. They just owned us on the boards. We battled back. I'm proud of our effort but we have to learn how to win some of these games."