Aurora defeated Edgewood, 85-69 [box]

Spartans capture inaugural Northern Athletics Conference tournament title
AURORA, Ill. -- The Aurora University men’s basketball team highlighted their stellar season, thus far, with an 85-69 home victory against visiting Edgewood College in the Northern Athletics Conference post-season tournament championship. The 25th win of the season also marked the single season school record for victories.

Aurora never trailed and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the game. The first half opened with AU going on a 26-9 run and finished with the Spartans owning a 40-34 lead. Aurora was led, at the half, by senior guard Darrick Leonard, who had 14 points on five-of-nine shooting from the field. Edgewood's Chris DeMarco had 16 points at the half to lead all scorers, half of which came from the free-throw line.

The second half saw more scoring by Leonard, who finished with a game high 29 points, on 11-17 shooting. Leonard also shot an impressive three-of-four from beyond the three-point arc, dished out seven assists and pulled down seven rebounds. Other notable scorers for the Spartans were Larry Welton (16 points and five rebounds), Doug Lambert (14 points) and Dusty Magee (11 points).

For the game, the Spartans shot 30-of-56 (53.6%) from the field and 11-of-25 (44.0%) from three-point range, while Edgewood shot 23-of-53 (43.4%) from the field and 5-of-22 (22.7%) from the free-throw line. Aurora out rebounded the Eagles 34 to 32 for the contest.

Edgewood was paced by Chris Demarco's 25 points on 7-14 shooting from the field and nine rebounds and Kyle Scott had 12 points on 4-11 shooting from the field.

With the record-breaking win, the Spartans will now wait to hear from the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball selection committee on their potential bid into the 2007 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championships. Announcement will be made at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, February 26, 2007.

Courtesy of Aurora University, Sports Information Department, February 24, 2007.