Aurora defends NACC tournament crown - Feb 28, 2019
Aurora University successfully defended its 2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Men's Basketball Tournament title with a 71-57 victory over Illinois Institute of Technology Sunday afternoon at Edgar Hotchkin Arena on the campus of Milwaukee School of Engineering. It is Aurora's sixth NACC Tournament title overall. HOW IT HAPPENED - The low scoring first-half found the game tied 18-18 at the media timeout with 7:37 to go. - AU grabbed the lead coming out of the timeout with a Bailey Vance (6'4''-F) jumper. - The Spartans continued to get to the hoop the rest of the half and just before the halftime buzzer, Terrell Wilson (5'11''-PG) got a lay-up to give AU a 31-26 halftime lead. - AU would continue to maintain the lead in the second-half and when the game was all said and done, the Spartans never trailed. - Back to back lay-ups from Max Vickers (6'4''-F) as the game went just under 10 minutes to play forced an IIT timeout with AU leading 49-40. - Every time IIT scored, the Spartans had an immediate answer. - With 6:16 to go, Tyler Carlson (6'3''-F-96) drained a three from the top of the key and AU held their largest lead of 12 at 58-46. - In the final four minutes, the Spartans converted 9-of-10 free throws with all but two coming from Wilson. - A Bailey Vance three with 2:35 to go was the final knockout shot that seemed to seal the AU win. - AU out-scored IIT 10-3 in the final three minutes of the game.
FOR THE SPARTANS - Terrell Wilson had a game-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and grabbed seven rebounds. - Bailey Vance had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. - Tyler Carlson had 17 points on three-of-seven shooting from three-point range. - Max Vickers had 11 points. - The Spartan defense held IIT to 34-percent shooting for the game - AU out-rebounded IIT 39-30.
Player of the Year: Matthew Kirmse (6'1''-G) of MSOE Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Max Hisatake (6'7''-C) of IlIinois Tech Co-Defensive Player of the Year: Jason Palesse (6'0''-PG) of MSOE Freshman of the Year: Landen Gladney (6'5''-F) of Concordia, IL Coach of the Year: Brian Miller of MSOE
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