Knights' charge against St. Rita comes up short

ROCKFORD - Auburn whittled a 13-point deficit to three against highly-regarded Chicago St. Rita, but couldn't get another shot to fall in a 51-47 loss.

The Knights struggled mightily to get off good shots against the Mustangs imposing wings, 6-5 Landen Gladney and 6-7 Jeremiah Oden. Oden scored 10 of his 18 points as St. Rita took a 29-19 lead into halftime.

St. Rita pushed the lead to 13 points in the fourth quarter before the Knights began to find the range. Freshman Josh Ausler hit three second-half three-point shots to keep the Knights in it and sophomore Javin Davis scored his only two baskets in the game in the fourth to cut the lead to 50-47 with about 90 seconds left.

Auburn would force a couple of turnovers and have three more possessions to get a tie but wouldn't score again, and a free throw by Joel Watts iced it late for the Mustangs. St. Rita improved to 4-0 in the tournament with a game left at 10 a.m. Saturday against Jefferson. If the Mustangs beat the J-Hawks, they likely will clinch the Tip-Off Classic title because they've given up far fewer points than Chicago Whitney Young.

Yahmir Muhammad led the Knights (1-1) with 17 points and Ausler had 12. The loss to St. Rita is just Auburn's third in the four-year-old event. The other two were to perennial Indiana power Indianapolis Pike.

Oden's 18 points led St. Rita and Jordan Matthews chipped in 14.

BOXSCORE

Chicago St. Rita 51, Rockford Auburn 47
(at Auburn High School)

St. Rita    11   18   14    8  -  51
Auburn    11    8   14   14  -  47

St. Rita - Watts 1 3-4 6, Matthews 5 2-4 14, Ihejirica 2 0-3 4, Gladney 1 1-2 3, Posley 1 0-2 3, Oden 7 3-3 18, Bartmann 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 10-20 51.
Auburn - Muhammad 8 0-0 17, Ausler 4 0-0 12, Blake 0 1-2 1, Neal 3 0-0 7, Davis 2 0-0 4, Purifoy 1 0-0 2, Aldridge 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 1-2 47.
3-pointers: St. Rita 5 (Matthews 2, Watts, Posley, Oden), Auburn 6 (Ausler 4, Muhammad, Neal).