Every time Aurora Central star Ronald Scarbrough went to the bench with foul trouble Saturday, it drew a smattering of cheers from the Abraham Lincoln faithful.
Be careful what you wish for.
The sixth-ranked Trojans leaned on their smaller lineup and dug deep into their bench to deliver a convincing 77-54 Class 5A nonleague victory on the Lancers’ court.
Shooting guard Stephen Franklin knocked down six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points, and backcourt teammates Marcus Johnson and Sean Cunningham scored 20 and 17 points, respectively, as the Trojans improved to 11-0.
Junior James Ray came off the bench in the second quarter to score six points as the Trojans steadily added to their lead throughout the game.
The 6-foot-9 Scarbrough picked up his third foul early in the second quarter before he and teammate Anthony Martin fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Scarbrough took only two shots, finishing with two points, three rebounds and two blocked shots.
“We don’t like this, but sometimes it’s a blessing in disguise,” Trojans coach Bob Caton said.
The Trojans hit 10 of their 3-point attempts and forced enough turnovers to keep the Lancers from gaining any kind of offensive momentum.
Sophomore guard Jorge Gutierrez scored 20 points and 6-7 junior forward Ruot Pal added 17 as the Lancers (10-3) lost for the third time in four games.
“They had a tremendous shooting performance,” Lancers coach Vince Valdez said of the Trojans. “On the rare occasion that they do miss, they’re going to have good rebounders to clean it up.”
Johnson and Franklin sparked the Trojans early as they opened up a 24-12 lead on Franklin’s 3-pointer late in the first quarter and were up 38-21 three minutes before halftime.
Johnson scored 10 points in the first quarter but missed all five of his shots in the second and third quarters. Johnson poured in nine points in the fourth quarter by driving to the basket as the Trojans led by as many as 30.
“Coach told me to take in,” Johnson said. “When the jumpers don’t fall, you got to resort to other things. I’m glad to have other teammates around me pick up the slack when I’m not doing so hot.”
Aurora Central 24 22 14 17 – 77
Abraham Lincoln 17 12 8 17 – 54
Aurora Central – M. Johnson 8 2-3 20, Woahene 2 0-0 4, Cunningham 8 0-0 17, Franklin 8 0-0 22, Ray 2 2-2 6, Neal 0 0-0 0, Martin 0 0-0 0, Schult 1 0-0 2, Scarbrough 1 0-0 2, Kelly 0 1-2 1, Goyer 0 0-0 0, D. Johnson 1 0-0 3. Totals 31 5-7 77.
Abraham Lincoln – Prim 0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 5 8-12 20, Reat 1 0-0 3, Thomas 1 1-2 4, Torres 0 2-2 2, Pal 7 3-4 17, Prieto 0 0-1 0, Martinez 2 0-0 4, Preciado 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 14-21 54.
3-point goals – Franklin 6, M. Johnson 2, Cunningham, D. Johnson; Gutierrez 2, Reat, Thomas. Total fouls – Aurora Central 20, Abraham Lincoln 15. Fouled out – Scarbrough, Martin. Technical fouls – None.
