DEKALB — In late January, sophomore guard Marshawn Cocroft let it be known that he thought Aurora Christian had a pretty good chance to contend for the Class 1A state championship.
Externally, people may have thought that was a stretch. With five players having graduated from last season and four sophomores now in the starting lineup, the Eagles faced an uphill battle.
Cocroft never wavered from his opinion, especially considering Aurora Christian had opened the regular season by taking the title in a Thanksgiving tourney hosted by Westminster Christian.
“After that first tournament, winning it, I never lost confidence in this team,” Cocroft said in the midst of Monday night’s celebration. “I knew that we had all the pieces to make it to state.”
Now, the Eagles have the chance to prove it.
Crocroft ended up leading all scorers with 24 points as Aurora Christian held on to win the NIU Supersectional 68-66 in overtime over pesky Petatonica at the NIU Convocation Center.
Jacob Baumann scored 15 points, Jalen Carter added 10 and Asa Johnson had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles (25-8), who play at 11:15 a.m. Thursday in the semifinals at the State Farm Center in Champaign vs. Winchester West Central (34-3), a 46-42 winner over Illini Bluffs.
Cooper Hoffman scored 21 points to pace Pecatonica (31-6), which beat the Eagles 57-54 in OT on Dec. 30.
The larger court at the NIU Convocation Center, though, worked to Cocroft’s advantage all night.
With his ability to get to the rim, the extra space helped him carve up the opposition. Cocroft shot 10 of 12 from the floor, adding four assists and two steals.
“Our offense is based on space, and if you don’t have that space, our offense wouldn’t be that good,” Cocroft said. “I think the college court helped with that a lot.”
Aurora Christian coach Dan Beebe knows getting to the rim is the key to the Eagles’ success.
“Our offense is set toward that — to try to put pressure on people,” Beebe said. “We say we play downhill. We want to put pressure on people because we have the shooters on the perimeter.”
That’s exactly how the Eagles took the lead for good in OT. In a seesaw game that saw Aurora Christian trail by as many as 11 points and lead by as many as 10, the Eagles had the final rally.
With Aurora Christian facing a 57-57 tie with 1:16 left, Baumann took advantage of the attention being paid to Cocroft. He made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Eagles the lead.
Cocroft followed with a driving layup, and they never trailed again.
“Basically, we swung the ball more and Marshawn was getting doubled,” Baumann said. “That left me wide open at the top. We swung the ball and I hit the shot. It felt great.
“It was a very big confidence booster.”
A theme for Aurora Christian during this run to state has been about falling behind big and then rallying. Monday proved to be no exception.
For the third time in the past four games, the Eagles trailed by double figures. This time, it was 11 points in the first quarter.
“Unfortunately, they like to do that to us coaches,” Beebe said. “We get down, but we don’t get rattled. We know going downstate we can’t do that. We’re going up against the best of the best.”
It’s a position Cocroft had no doubt his team would be in when the calendar flipped to March. In the program’s fourth trip to the Final Four, the Eagles have a chance to win their first state title.
“It feels great,” Cocroft said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m glad to be here, and I hope we win it.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
