The 2017-2018 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference men's basketball Tournament Semi-Final round was welcomed to the Aurora University campus and Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium on Friday, February 23. The top-ranked Spartans of Aurora University defeated #6 Edgewood College 76-63 in the night cap to advance to the NACC Tournament Championship on Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m. AU will face long-time rival Benedictine University who earlier in the night defeated Concordia University Wisconsin 69-67.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE:  #1 Aurora University 76; #6 Edgewood College 63
LOCATION: Aurora, Illinois – Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium
RECORDS: Aurora University 18-8; Edgewood College 11-16

HOW IT HAPPENED
- AU grabbed an early 9-5 lead following a three from Max Vickers.
- Later in the first-half, Ty Carlson hit back to back three's that gave AU a 19-16 lead. That was the last time AU was tied or trailed in the game.
- The Spartans used hot first-half shooting to build a double-digit lead late in the half.
- A three-point play by Spartan Marcus Myers with five seconds to play gave AU their largest lead of 13, 49-36.
- The second-half opened up with an Edgewood run to cut the Spartan lead down to eight (53-45).
- AU answered with a Justin Wierzgac and Marcus Myers lay-up and the lead quickly went back to 12 (57-45) with 14:12 to play.
- With 6:57 to play, Edgewood cut away at the AU lead and trailed by seven (65-58).
- An 8-0 AU run fueled by seven points from Max Vickers pushed the Spartans lead to 15 with 3:17 to play.
- With 1:13 to play in the game, the Spartans enjoyed their largest lead of the game at 16 (76-60).
- The Spartans would win 76-63 and advance to the NACC Tournament Championship on Saturday.
 
FOR THE SPARTANS
- Ty Carlson had a game-high 23 points on seven-of-eight shooting from the field including four-of-five from three-point range.
- Marcus Myers had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
- Max Vickers had a double-double with 20 points and had 10 rebounds.
 
SPARTAN STAT LEADERS
POINTS: Ty Carlson (23), Marcus Myers (22) and Max Vickers (14)
REBOUNDS: Matt Dunn (8) and Marcus Myers (7)
ASSISTS: Marcus Myers (4) and Matt Dunn (3) 
STEALS: Marcus Myers (3)
 
UP NEXT
Next action for the Spartan men's basketball team comes on Saturday, February 24 when they host the NACC Tournament Final. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. on Lancaster Court in Thornton Gymnasium against Benedictine University.