By Rod Havens
The Aurora boys basketball team was victorious against Kearney Catholic in a close game on January 23rd. The match ended with the Huskies defeating the Stars by two, with a final score of 54-52.
“I think the biggest strength shown tonight from us was our resiliency. There were more than a few times where things were looking bleak and our guys could have quit but they showed no signs of that, stayed together and found a way to win. I thought we played pretty solid in our half-court defense but had a few too many turnovers that led to some easy buckets for them. That was probably our biggest weakness.” coach Cole Ashby said.
The majority of the points were scored in the second half. At halftime, the score was 19-18 with the Stars leading by one. Throughout the game, the Stars and the Huskies were neck-and-neck, with the lead switching through successful plays performed by both teams.
In the third quarter, the Huskies scored 17 points and the Stars scored 21 to start the fourth quarter 40-35. Coming down to the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, junior Ryan Staehr scored a three-pointer which made the Huskies tie the Stars at 45 points sending the game to overtime. During the overtime, both teams drove hard to win. As time dwindled, the teams were even at 52-52 with only a few seconds left on the clock. Junior Canon Allen scored the last 2 points the Huskies needed to achieve the victory through 2 free throws. .
“We have done a great job of taking care of the basketball this year, averaging less than 9 turnovers per game and last night we had 19. They played a defense that we hadn't seen much of recently and were very athletic and quick and made things difficult for us on the offensive end,” Ashby said.
The victory over Kearney Catholic puts the Aurora Boys Basketball Team record at 12-2, reflecting their hard work and dedication to the sport.