(Sugar Grove, IL.) – Coming off a 15-day Holiday break, the Chiefs' offense looked out of sync at times. Fortunately Waubonsee's defense rarely faltered in an 86-48 victory over Aurora University's Junior Varsity. Eventually Waubonsee's defense sparked their offense as they downed the Spartans for the second time this season. The Chiefs used a similar formula to trounce Aurora 91-53 on Dec. 4 in Sugar Grove.
The Chiefs (8-6) limited the Spartans to just 11 points over the initial 12 minutes of play, and took four offensive charges on defense in the first half alone. A reverse lay-in by Elijah Marto off a nice assist from Simeon Strauss put the Chiefs in front 15-10 eight minutes into the contest. Five minutes later Waubonsee pushed its' lead to double digits at 23-13 on an inside basket by Josh McAuley. A turn around 15-foot jumper by Christopher Henderson with five minutes in the period put the Chiefs in front 32-16. Another lay-in by Collman Aaron with 0:30 left finished the first half scoring as Waubonsee took a 48-29 lead into the locker room.
A high arching three pointer from the top of the key by Tahjay Blackmon five minutes into the second half staked the Chiefs to a 55-33 lead. Another trey from the right corner by Marto made it 64-39 with 11 minutes remaining. A driving finger roll lay-in by McAuley with seven minutes to go extended Waubonsee's advantage to 31 points at 74-43. Two minutes later McAuley tipped in his own miss to make it 81-45 and the Chiefs' 6'8" center went to the bench for the remainder of the game. Waubonsee limited the Spartans to only 19 second half points as they pulled away.
Despite foul trouble hampering him most of the game, McAuley still managed to finish with 27 points and snag half a dozen rebounds to lead the Chiefs. Marto connected on three shots from beyond the arc on his way to booking 13 points. Jymil Toney muscled his way to 12 points, while Aaron chipped in with 11 points and Henderson finished with eight points.
The Chiefs play again this Saturday, January 5 when they host Bryant & Stratton College from Milwaukee. Dave Heiss' men's squad takes on the Bobcats at 3:00 p.m. (CDT) with Jim Williams' women's team set to play prior to that beginning at 1:00 p.m. (CDT).