Boys Basketball: Aurora Christian out a win

Updated: January 5, 2012 10:39PM

Aurora Christian’s 64-55 win over Marmion Thursday night would best be described as methodical.

There were no big runs and not much in the way of flash, just a game-long grind that involved gritty play, tough defense and a lot of free throws. Still, the numbers on the scoreboard are all that matter — those and the 11-3 record (3-1 Suburban Christian) the Eagles are sporting after the victory.

It took all of that to hold off a scrappy Cadet squad that despite having trouble hitting shots, got some late three-pointers to fall that gave the Eagles a little bit of a scare.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” ACHS coach Steve Hanson said. “We won and at the end of the night that is all that matters. It was a big win for us.”

The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the game and were up by 10 (30-20) on a putback by Ryan Suttle with 1:20 to go before halftime, but Marmion got the last two buckets of the quarter. A three by Jeff Garofalo (10 points) just before the buzzer made it a 30-25 game.

ACHS pulled away again in the second half and built its biggest lead of the night at 14 (51-37) when Suttle hit two free throws with 6:33 to go in the game. But the Cadets, who hit just 22 of their 64 shots from the field (34 percent), got a few to fall and with the help of seven fourth-quarter turnovers by the Eagles pulled back into the game once again.

Back-to-back treys by Garofalo, the second of which came with 90 seconds to play, cut the deficit to 57-54, but the Eagles sealed it with seven free throws to ice the game. In fact, ACHS just had one field goal in the fourth quarter, but went 16-for-19 from the line.

“They had some good three-point shooters, but basketball is a game of runs so we just knew we had to keep our composure,” said C.J. Schutt, who scored 13 points.

While Marmion (8-7, 2-2) could get close enough to have the Eagles in sight, too many empty posessions down the stretch got in the way of reeling them in.

“When we got it down a couple of times, we couldn’t turn them over or get stops,” said Marmion coach Ryan Paradise. “It was a fight to get back there, and sometimes when you are playing from behind when you get the lead down it takes so much to get even it is hard to get over the hill.”

Schutt, Suttle and Johnathan Harrell all had 13 points to lead the Eagles while Jake Hanson tossed in 10. Colin Kavanaugh joined Garofalo with 10 points, while Alex Theisen came off the bench to score a game-high 16 for the Cadets.

© 2013 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.