Game Notes: Aurora University @ North Central College (11/25/16)

Final Score
NCC 88, Aurora 78

Game Summary
This was a pretty tough game the whole way as the Cardinals (3-0) got out to an early lead, but a 7-0 Spartans (2-2) run gave Aurora the lead. The Cardinals battled back with a 10-0 run of their own to regain control and would lead by as many as 16 before ultimately taking a 47-37 lead into the break. The Spartans came out firing in the second half, cutting the lead down to three points early, but North Central answered with key baskets. The Spartans didn't give up, narrowing the lead to five with a little over seven minutes left, but the Cardinals held onto the ball for a minute and a half before getting a couple free throws, picked up a steal, and got a three to reopen the lead to 10. Aurora would get no closer than eight the rest of the way as the Cardinals picked up their third straight win and avenged last year's loss.

Key Stats

• Connor Raridon (NCC): 8-14 FG (1-3 3PT), 6-9 FT; 24 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 9 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl. Todd Raridon has been riding his youngest son the last couple games, as Connor never left the floor on Friday. But he was phenomenal on offense, doing a lot of driving and fading away, but he also did a great job down low and distributing the ball. He looked possibly a little winded late in the game when he was missing free throws, but he played well again.
• Aiden Chang (NCC): 6-10 FG (3-5 3PT), 4-4 FT; 19 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk. Aiden had arguably the best game of his career on Friday. His 19 points are a career high, and he came up with a few huge buckets. His old fashioned three point play capped North Central's 10-0 run in the first half, and he followed that up on the next possession with a four point play. He's really developing into a great player.
• Aurora: 13-27 3PT (48.1%). As I was getting ready at Merner on Friday and looking over Aurora's stats, one thing caught my eye: this team can shoot. They were at 39-93 coming into this contest, good for a 41.9 percent clip. They eclipsed that in this game, as those threes are by and large what kept them in the game. Pat Kramp hit five of his six threes, and Ty Carlson added four on six attempts.

Final Thoughts
I definitely thought North Central was the better team in this one, and the argument was made that it shouldn't have been this close. The Cardinals won the rebounding battle 43-23 and shot 54.2 percent from the floor. But they let Aurora stay close thanks to their hot shooting, which isn't the greatest of signs, but it's still early in the season.

I was a little embarrassed by the perceived "home court advantage" in this one, as many Aurora faithful made the short trek to Naperville for this contest. This is a good thing for the sport, but they were very loud... significantly louder than the North Central faithful in attendance. Granted, this was a Black Friday game, but I was not encouraged by this. Hopefully conference play will be better.

Maybe the best part of this contest came right at the end. Multiple players dove for a loose ball along Aurora's bench and took out head coach Lance Robinson as well as pretty much completely destroying his chair. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it, but one of the legs was completely bent out of shape. All parties involved were all right, which is the most important thing.

This was the second game of a five game home stand for the Cardinals. They return to action on Tuesday as they welcome in Wisconsin-Platteville for a 7:00 tip.