John Ugran keys stunning Aurora comeback

AURORA — The Rough Riders' 3-point barrage defined the first half.

John Ugran's 3-point barrage carried the night.

After Roosevelt exploded for 10 treys in the first half, Ugran had three in crunch time to lift host Aurora to a stunning 56-48 comeback victory Saturday evening.

"This is definitely a big game for us because we came off a loss yesterday," Ugran said. "We were disappointed, we definitely thought we should have won that, and then we see everything on Twitter, they're bringing a crowd and we know we had to step it up and that's exactly what we did."

Ugran had been relatively quiet over the first three quarters while fellow senior Tavion Pride, who led all scorers Saturday with 19 points, did everything he could to keep the Greenmen alive. In the final minutes, Pride got Ugran the ball and Ugran delivered, hitting his final four shots of the night, the last three from deep.

With Aurora trailing 46-37, Ugran scored eight straight points, on a baseline cut and a pair of 3-pointers, then added another 3-pointer after Pride put the Greenmen in front.

"I was just pretty passive the first half, and then he pulled me aside and he says like, 'You got to do it on both ends,'" Ugran said. "So it really kicked in and I knew I had to step up, I had to play with confidence and I couldn't back down."

Tavion Pride, John Ugran come up clutch

Before Ugran caught fire from deep, he scored for the first time since the first quarter far closer to the bucket.

With the Greenmen down 46-37 midway through the fourth, Ugran cut baseline following fellow senior Derek Blum's offensive board and took Blum's pass for a layup to draw within seven. At the three-minute mark, Ugran took a pass from Pride and knocked down his first 3-pointer, on just his second attempt of the night.

After Pride tied the Rough Riders up on the defensive end to get the ball back, the senior guard had a decent look at a corner 3, but instead stepped forward and dished back to Ugran, who had a better look at a corner 3 and nailed it to draw within one.

"I see the work he puts it on and off the court," Pride said. "I've seen it in the games before, he always hits the biggest threes, so I knew I'd give him the ball when it counted most."

Twenty seconds later, after Blum came up with an interception on the defensive end, Pride scored in the paint to give the Greenmen their first lead since the score was 8-6.

After Pride came up with another steal, he found Ugran for his third and final 3-pointer to put Aurora ahead 50-46 with a minute left.

Rough Riders senior Jayden Reynolds got his team within a basket (50-48) when he hit a pair of free throws with 55 seconds remaining, but Greenmen junior Zachary Anzells responded with his own pair of free throws.

On Roosevelt's ensuing possession, Aurora knocked away a lob to the post, with Ugran pouncing on the deflection and sending a pass up the court to senior Jack Cardaman, who hit the layup and later added a pair of free throws to clinch the win.

Playing with pride

Before Ugran caught fire, Pride kept the Greenmen in the game.

When the Rough Riders hit four straight 3-pointers to turn an 8-6 deficit into an 18-8 lead, Pride responded with a 3 from up top.

When Roosevelt senior Blake Green hit his second 3-pointer to take a double-digit lead (23-13), Pride drove baseline and powered through contact for a layup.

After Green's third 3-pointer again put the Rough Riders up by double digits (26-15), Pride cut off a Roosevelt pass and took off for a lefty layup to trim the Aurora deficit.

By halftime, Pride had 12 of his team's 22 points, helping the Greenmen trail by just 10 despite the Rough Riders going 10-of-16 from deep in the opening 16 minutes.

"I feel like I'm the motor of the team," Pride said. "So like whenever we're down, I'm always the guy who tells them, 'Come on, you got this.'"

Pride mixed with defensive hustle to turn the game around.

After Roosevelt passed around traps to find the open man in the first half, turning the ball over just four times, Aurora pressed higher after the intermission with devastating results. Cutting off pass after pass, the Greenmen forced 16 second-half turnovers.

"I feel like we played a lot harder than we did before," Pride said. "We got a pack line defense, so I feel like we stayed in that better and got up the line and dug it out."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: John Ugran keys stunning Aurora comeback