Spartans Advance in NAC Tournament

AURORA, Ill. February 26, 2008 - The Aurora University men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the Northern Athletics Conference tournament with a 96-75 victory over NAC rival Benedictine University, Tuesday night in AU’s Thornton Gymnasium, where Aurora is 87-10 since the 2000-2001 season.

The contest opened up just as the previous two meetings this season between the fierce rivals (both AU wins 85-81 and 82-80 OT). The Eagles took a 13-10 lead with 14:50 to play in the first half but that lead was quickly erased and the Spartans didn’t look back the remainder of the contest.

Aurora fueled by a 13-1 run took a 23-14 lead and built a double-digit lead with seven minutes to play in the first half. The Spartans led by 22 entering intermission, 51-29.

The Spartans were led at the break by senior forward Larry Welton, who had 16 points and five rebounds. A couple other Spartans had impressive halves; with sophomore guard Shane Roland scoring 13 points on five-of-six shooting from the field off the bench and senior guard Doug Lambert added 10 points on four-of-six shooting.

Benedictine came out firing in the second half, but was unable to overcome the deficit, closing the Spartan lead to 16 with 11 minutes to play but AU managed to maintain a healthy advantage once the Eagles’ run ended.

The Spartan were led by Welton’s 25 points, six rebounds and six assists, Roland finished with 20 points and Lambert had 18 points. The Spartans shot 55.7 percent (39-of-70) from the field in the game and dished out 22 assists, including eight by junior guard Jarrett Starwood.

In the losing effort, the Eagles were led by senior guard Tim Swanson (18 points) and junior guard Jared Bailey (17 points, six assists and four rebounds). In his last visit to AU’s Thornton Gymnasium, Bailey scored 39 points in AU’s 85-81 win.

The win pushes Aurora’s record to 21-5, while the loss ends the Eagles’ season and drops their final record to 11-15 overall.

The win advances Aurora to the 2008 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament semi-final game on Thursday, February 28, 2008. The Spartans will take on Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7:00 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium. MSOE defeated the Spartans 88-82 in Thornton Gymnasium on February 2, 2008.