Two seniors led the Houn' Dawgs to a key Big 8 Conference win over visiting Carl Junction Friday. One, Garrett Bader, scored a team-high 21 points, and the other, Corey Gregory, hit a clutch 3-pointer with under three seconds left on the clock and Aurora down one, 60-59. That bucket held and Aurora escaped with a narrow 62-60 win.

"We beat these guys in eighth grade," explained Bader after the win. "We hadn't beat them since and we wanted this one worse than any other this whole season."

Aurora opened the game with a deliberate attempt to get the ball inside to Bader, and found success in the first quarter, as Bader scored seven of Aurora's 14 first quarter points. By the end of one quarter, the two Big 8 teams were tied 14-14.

Scoring was at a premium to open the second quarter, as only two points were scored in the first three minutes of the second quarter. There was no flow to the entire quarter, as each team was in the double-bonus early in the second and free-throws became the norm. Aurora hit just two out of seven attempts from the charity stripe, while the Bulldogs hit three out of four. That would be enough to Carl Junction the lead at the break, 31-28.

The Houn's opened with a 12-6 start that put them up three, 40-37 early in the second half. The early run was highlighted by Bader's six points.

It was mid-way through the third when Aurora made a modest 8-point run after Carl Junction had built its biggest lead of the night 37-32. That run put the Houn' Dawgs up 40-37 and helped them take the lead into the third quarter break, 45-44. Bader scored six more of his 21 points during this key run.

The fourth quarter was a battle, which is exactly what the Houn's needed.

"We haven't been able to play physical much the last three weeks," said Aurora head coach Daniel Cutbirth, "We must be allowed to play physical in order to get positive things done."

Bader, who spent his time inside the lane, agreed with his coach.

"It was extremely physical in there," he said. "I was as physical as they were but it was definitely a danger zone."

Aurora and Carl Junction exchanged the lead eight times in the fourth quarter alone, with the final time coming with under three seconds on the clock.

"It was set up to go inside to Bader," said Cutbirth, "but sometimes you need a little luck and Corey (Gregory) has the ability to sling it up there like that and this time fortunately for us it went in."

Gregory shot the trey from the left baseline, heavily defended, and fell into his own student section as the ball went through the hoop.

After Bader's 21 points, his younger brother, Logan Bader added 15. Gregory and Josh Fronabarger each had eight for Aurora.

Carl Junction was led by senior standout Matt Magee's game-high 23. Dustin Saterlee and Aaron Nelson added 10 apiece.

Carl Junction -- 14 17 13 16 -- 60
Aurora -- 14 14 17 17 -- 62

Aurora -- Garrett Bader 21, Logan Bader 15, Josh Fronabarger 8, Corey Gregory 8, Skylar Cahill 4, Mason Husmann 4, Austin Carmichael 2