MILWAUKEE – The MSOE men's basketball team overcame a 17-point second-half deficit, but could not overtake Aurora in falling 87-79 Saturday afternoon at the Kern Center.

The Raiders (11-10, 8-8 NACC) trailed 57-40 with 14:36 remaining in the game, but crept back into the game and caught the Spartans (17-4, 13-3 NACC) just under 11 minutes later. Unfortunately, they were unable to overtake the visitors.

Senior Austin Stueck led the charge with 27 points. Senior Connor Patterson added 16 and sophomore Greg Pigg chipped in 13 big points off the bench—all after the team trailed by 17.

Four starters scored in double-figures for Aurora, led by Tyler Hall's 28 points. Nick Kladia finished with 16, Kalmon Stokes 12 and Jovon Griffin 10.

Hall scored five-straight points to open up the biggest lead of the game for the visitors. After that, the Raiders began to mount their gradual comeback. Stueck hit a layup to make it a 10-point game and, after a Hall free throw, hit a pair of free throws of his own to make it 63-54 just past the midway point of the half.

Senior Dylan Jones then started a 17-6 run that culminated in a tie score. He began with a layup and Stueck followed with a basket. After a Hall layup, Pigg knocked down a three to make it a six-point game. AU hit two free throws and Stueck answered with five-straight points.

Jones later capped the run with four-straight points on two free throws and a layup with 3:56 remaining. The Spartans answered back with five quick points and never looked back. The Red & White ran out of gas down the stretch as Aurora made 7-of-8 free throws to seal the game.

MSOE outshot Aurora 45 percent to 41.3 and accumulated a 36-24 advantage on points in the paint. The Spartans were able to hold off the Red & White by draining 10-of-25 three-pointers, compared to 5-of-19 by MSOE. Both teams got to the free throw line 29 times, with AU making 25 and the Raiders 20.

MSOE is back in action Tuesday at Lakeland.