FOND DU LAC - Marian University men's basketball (3-13, 2-9 NACC) fell to Aurora in NACC action by a final of 74-69.

Aurora took a 16-13 lead before Marian used a timeout with 10:38 left in the half to shift the momentum.  Out of the break, Marian used a 21-8 run to take a 34-24 lead with 4:25 in the half.  The Sabres then closed out the half with five unanswered points to put the halftime tally at 43-30.

The Sabres opened the game strong shooting 16-25 (.640) from the field including 6-9 (.667) from beyond the arc. 

Marian built their lead to as large as 15 when junior Justin Wilson opened the second half with a layup.  The Sabres maintained a double-digit lead for most of the half leading at 52-43 with 10:49 left before Aurora started their comeback.  Aurora was able to cut the Marian lead down to two at 52-50 with seven unanswered points only to have the Sabres bounce back with a 7-2 stretch.

A 12-4 Spartan run immediately followed, however as the Spartans took a 64-63 lead with 2:54, their first lead since the 10:17 mark of the first half.  From there, Aurora had another run where they scored eight unanswered to take a 72-65 lead with just 15 seconds left.  A layup from Wilson and buzzer-beater from freshman Blake Pedrin sandwiched a pair of AU free throws to set the final at 74-69.

Marian finished the game shooting 25-51 (.490) from the field, but would only go 1-9 (.111) from the three-point line in the second half.  Four student-athletes scored double-digit points led by 15 points from Wilson.  Sophomore Hunter Schultz had a strong game off the bench scoring 11 points with five rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Marian hits the road traveling to Lakeland for a 2 p.m. tip Saturday, Jan. 25.