AURORA, Ill. – If this season turns into something special for the Edgewood College men's basketball team, the Eagles may look back at Saturday's game as a signature moment. Edgewood College went into Thornton Gymnasium and escaped with an 84-76 victory over NACC preseason favorite Aurora University. The Spartans were 5-0 in the conference entering Saturday's game.

Edgewood College (4-5, 4-2 NACC) was holding on to a slim 23-21 lead with seven minutes left in the first half when the Eagles made a run to establish the lead they would hold on to for the rest of the game. Dylan Heemstra scored a layup off a pass from Jake Heuer to get the Eagles going. Dylan Rusch then converted two free throws and Ben Brooke one. After a pair of Aurora misfires, Derek Braucht struck an early blow with a three-point basket to put Edgewood College ahead 31-21.

Three-pointers were a big part of the Eagles' first half attack. Tal Diekvoss got the Eagles going with back-to-back three-pointers early in the half and Adam Freitag and Joe Klocek also connected from deep in the first half. The Eagles took a 38-30 lead over Aurora University (7-3, 5-1 NACC) into the locker room.

It was the three-pointer that extended Edgewood College's lead in the second half. Aurora had gotten within seven points after a conventional three-point play by Brandon Smith to make the score 44-37, when the Eagles made their move. Diekvoss hit a pair of three-pointers and Matt Savatski followed with another. Trevon Ampe provided the exclamation point with a dunk to give the Eagles a 56-41 lead with 13 minutes to go.

From that point, the game turned into a slow paced, foul fest as the two teams combined for 40 fouls and 52 free throw attempts in the second half alone. Aurora University got as close as five points on a Tyler Hall layup with 1:49 to go, but the Eagles sealed the game by hitting 22 of 28 free throws in the second half.

Edgewood College was led by Diekvoss, who went 4-for-6 from the three-point line, and Rusch who made 11 of 12 free throws, for 15 points each. Rusch also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Braucht scored nine point off the bench as eight different Eagles scored at least six points apiece. Heuer led the team with five assists. Edgewood College shot 55.8 percent from the field marking their fourth straight game shooting 50 percent or better. The Eagles also went 9-for-17 from the three-point line for a season best 52.9 percent.

Hall led Aurora with 19 points before fouling out, while Kalmon Stokes scored 16 points. The Spartans shot 41.9 percent from the field, and lost despite committing just eight turnovers compared to the Eagles 21 turnovers.

Edgewood College will have next week free from games due to final exams. The Eagles will play their final pre-Christmas contest at home on Saturday, December 20 against Rockford University. That game begins at 6:00 p.m.