by Kent, Ohio – Defense was the name of the game at Kent Roosevelt Friday evening. Aurora would pick up their first conference victory of the regular season, holding off host Kent Roosevelt, 44-41, in a Suburban League American Division showdown.
Senior guard Zac Common scored the first points of the game with 5:11 left in the first on a layup. Senior forward Romeo Pitts-Medley would give Aurora their first points with a layup of his own about a minute later.
Later, with the score tied at eight, Aurora sophomore forward Johnathan Ugran hit the first of two consecutive three-pointers to give the Greenmen a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Ugran would hit another shot to begin the second. He finished with eight points. The Greenmen would expand their lead to 23-11 before buckets by Zac Common and Jeremiah Jones cut the lead to 23-15 going into halftime.
Roosevelt started the third quarter on fire, when senior forward Roderick Moxley hit a pair of three pointers, and Common converted a layup to cut the deficit to 23-21. After another bucket, and a free throw on the Aurora end, a slam by Jeremiah Jones pushed the run to 14-1, giving the Rough Riders a 25-24 lead. Ethan Hays would continue the back and forth affair by converting a layup off a steal. And Kent Roosevelt would answer back, taking their biggest lead of the game, 29-26, going into the fourth quarter.
Junior forward Kristian Daetwyler hit a layup late in the fourth quarter to push the Rough Rider lead to 38-35. Aurora responded with a three-pointer from junior guard Gabriel Elsawy. Roosevelt would push the lead to three again, thanks to a free throw and a layup by Zac Common. But Elsawy would come up clutch down the stretch. He converted a layup to cut the Roosevelt lead to one, and another coast-to-coast layup to put the Greenmen ahead for good.
After two free throws by Lenny Feckner, the Rough Riders had a shot to tie the game, but Moxley’s three pointer rattled out and the Greenmen celebrated their first conference win of the year.
Aurora junior guard Gabriel Elsawy led all scorers with 15 points. Johnathan Ugran added eight points, and senior guard Jack Roche had seven, including a couple of clutch baskets down the stretch.
“We were talking a lot about attacking the rim, and their size tried to hinder us from that. We finally got to the point where we were attacking the rim the way we wanted to.” said Aurora head coach T.J. Henderson. “Teams that play us are pretty astonished by our record. I think we’re way better than what it shows. But unfortunately it is what it is, so we gotta keep closing out games and winning them.” he added.
Roosevelt senior guard Zac Common had 11 points to pace the Rough Riders. Jeremiah Jones and Roderick Moxley added eight points each.
“I’m proud of our kids’ effort. I thought we fought really hard. Aurora made plays down the stretch and we didn’t. We gotta learn to close out games a little bit better.” said Kent Roosevelt head coach Christian Hunter.
The Aurora Greenmen improve to 4-11 overall and 1-7 in the Suburban League American Division. They host Barberton Tuesday night, Medina Highland on Friday night, and travel to Twinsburg Saturday evening for a non-conference showdown.
Kent Roosevelt drops to 9-8 overall and 4-5 in the Suburban League American Division. They host Tallmadge on Tuesday night and travel to Revere on Friday evening to continue conference play.
