Benedictine (19-6, 9-3 NIIC) dropped a 73-70 decision at Aurora (21-4, 11-1 NIIC) in the two teams' first meeting of the season. However, it was the host Eagles who had the upper hand to start the game, bolting to a 9-2 lead behind seven points from Matt Harrison. Aurora missed its first six shots of the game, but got four points from Larry Welton and five from Courtney Carson to knot the game at 9-9. Harrison scored again and Zach Ramey added a trey to give the Eagles a 14-9 advantage, but Aurora tied it up at 16-16 on a Tony Carson trey eight minutes into the game.
A Jimmy Franklin trey started a 7-0 run that left the Eagles with a 23-16 advantage with just under 10 minutes left in the opening half. However, Adam McCoy tied the game at 25-25 with a long-range shot that also started a 28-6 run to end the first stanza. Welton had eight points in that run, and the visitors led by a commanding 50-31 margin at the break. Welton had 16 points by the half.
Aurora led by as many as 21 on two occasions in the first two minutes of the second half, including a 56-35 advantage after a Drew Gronau basket. Brice Amelianovich had a pair of baskets in an 11-0 run, while Harrison added five points in the spurt that left the Eagles down by just 10 (56-46) less than four minutes into the half. Aurora fought off Benedictine's charge however, and led by double digits for much of the next seven minutes. A Jeremy Rauch putback left Aurora with a 71-60 lead with under eight minutes remaining in the game.
Benedictine slowly pecked away at its deficit, and after an Amelianovich basket cut Aurora's lead to 75-71, Dwight Mitchell went coast to coast for an acrobatic lay-up that got the Eagles to within a basket (75-73). Amelianovich answered two Carson freebies to keep Benedictine within a pair, but Welton scored six straight points for his team, which left the Spartans with an 85-79 advantage with 1:22 remaining.
Another Amelianovich basket got Benedictine to within 85-81 seconds later, but Aurora sewed up the game at the free throw line, with Gronau knocking down all eight of his tries in the final 69 seconds.
Harrison finished up with 21 points for Benedictine, while Marcus Jackson added his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 12 boards. Ramey scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, while Amelianovich netted all 12 of his points after the break. The Eagles got back into the game by shooting 59 percent (19-32) from the floor in the second stanza.
Welton led Aurora with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Carson (19), Gronau (15) and McCoy (13) all scored in double figures as well for the Spartans.
Benedictine will host either Eureka College or Concordia University in a first-round NIIC Tournament game on Tuesday, Feb. 22.