Stay Connected with YourSeason
Boys Basketball: Aurora Central takes seventh at East Aurora
Anthony Andujar kept his cool when all about him was heating up Friday and sparked Aurora Central to a come-from-behind 76-64 win in overtime against the host Tomcats in the seventh-place game at the East Aurora Holiday Tournament.
“He’s a man,” Chargers coach Nate Drye said of the slight, 5-foot-10 junior guard who drained a three-pointer with 38.7 seconds left in regulation to pull his team within 59-56.
“He had some turnovers early tonight and he wanted a chance to redeem himself. That was a bit three that he hit.”
Then, he went out and topped it. Fouled while attempting another three-pointer with 25.9 seconds left, Andujar calmly sank two in a row before East coach Wendell Jeffries called timeout.
“It didn’t scare me at all,” said Andujar, who finished with 14 points. “You’ve just gotta focus and nail it.”
He did, and after a Tomcats’ desperation shot from the baseline by Mikos Jimenez rolled off the rim, the Chargers went into the overtime with momentum.
Joe Medgyesi led the charge, scoring 10 of his team-high 19 points in the extra frame to lift ACC in a game that had 17 lead changes. The Chargers are now 4-9.
“If we had to choose to put someone on the line with the game on the line, I’d put him there every time,” said Drye. “He’s clutch.”
DeJon Talbert led the Tomcats (1-12) with 19 points and Larry Reynolds came off the bench to add 16, all in the second half.
Both coaches shuffled their lineups a bit with Drye starting Mike O’Donnell and Matt Meyers, who had done well off the bench the previous two nights, and Wendell Jeffries inserting sophomore Jonathan Villezcas and junior guard Steve Green.
The first quarter was a seesaw affair with seven lead changes, ending with the host Tomcats holding a 14-13 advantage. There were three more lead changes in the second period with ACC going to the locker room ahead 32-28.
Talbert led East with nine first-half points while ACC got six each from O’Donnell and Joey McEachern off the bench.
© 2012 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.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment