 Rising Sun's Brandon Aro hits a fourth quarter free throw despite the best efforts of the Elkton fans. It was Senior Night in Elkton. But it was Rising Sun's 12th graders who were celebrating at the end. The Tigers' upperclassmen recorded their first-ever victory over the Elks, 57-52, Monday evening. Senior Brandon Aro hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:42 left and finished with 23 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, and two assists. Classmate Nick Luciano came up huge, scoring 12 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Junior Kevin Alkinburg added nine points and four rebounds and senior Spencer McDermott collected five points and three boards. "We have been waiting for this for a long time," Rising Sun coach Matt Haack said. "We just left the locker room and Brandon said in four years on varsity we've never gotten the 'W' on Elkton before, home or away. And he said, 'It felt great.' And I couldn't agree with him more. The boys have been battling. We're a family out there. They've been working hard all season long and they put together a complete game. They played great basketball. They played good defense and we limited our mistakes in the second half and got out of here with a win." Rising Sun led 12-7 at the end of the first quarter and by as many as seven points in the second quarter. The Elks were ahead 23-22 when Aro hit a three-pointer from a few steps beyond the arc at the halftime buzzer. "I've never done that before in my entire life," Aro said. "I just stepped up and as soon as it left my hand I knew it was good. I even yelled out, 'Buckets!'" The Tigers never trailed in the second half. After the Elks hit a three-pointer to narrow the margin to 37-33, Rising Sun ended the third quarter on an Alkinburg basket off a Luciano assist. The Tigers led 48-41 with less than five minutes left before Elkton embarked on a 9-2 spurt to tie the game. Aro put Rising Sun in front for good by burying two free throws with 1:42 to go. Luciano made a pair of free throws with 48.6 ticks left before Elkton answered to make it 54-52. Aro connected on two more free throws with 15.5 seconds left to ice it and Luciano added another free throw to account for the final score. The Tigers open the playoffs at Harford Tech Friday at 6 p.m. It was a victory over the Cobras that gave Rising Sun some momentum heading into the game at Elkton. "With Friday's win (over Tech) I knew the attitudes had changed," said Haack. "The boys were feeling more confidence. They felt like if we play as a team, we're capable of beating some of these teams, in our division or in the upper division. It's a different confidence. A different attitude. We're trying to play physical basketball and push people around instead of going out and getting pushed around." With Elkton and Rising Sun on opposite ends of the draw, it was probably the Tigers' seniors last chance to earn a win in the rivalry. "We were coming off a big win against Harford Tech and personally I kind of wanted to spoil (Elkton's) Senior Night," Aro said. "It's all about the momentum we built from Harford Tech. We took it into this game and we kept it going. We did one heck of a job … This was the last time we're playing here most likely and it's a sweet ending." Comments are closed.
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