Bishop McNamara couldn’t quite keep Aurora Christian at bay in the first half of Friday’s Chicagoland Christian Conference contest.

The host Fightin’ Irish led by just four at halftime despite leading by 10 at multiple points in the first half.

But after Karter Krutsinger opened the third quarter with a personal 7-0 run, Bishop McNamara didn’t look back.

The Irish (21-5, 5-3 CCC) went on to win 70-54, the largest margin of defeat for the Eagles (18-5, 5-3) so far this season.

“We really just focused on our defense,” Krutsinger said. “Defense leads to offense for us, and once our team gets out in transition is when we’re best. Everybody was sharing the ball tonight. Really, it was just teamwork.”

Although Krutsinger had the hot hand to start the third quarter, and finished with 11 points in the frame, it was really all hands on deck for the Irish throughout the game.

Krutsinger had with 17 points, just behind Richard Darr with his team-high 18. Callaghan O’Connor added 14 points and Coen Demack narrowly missed out on double figures with nine.

Teddy Fogel had four points to round out the starting five, while Preston Payne (three points, three offensive rebounds), Jayson Benton (six points on a pair of 3-pointers) and Ian Irps all chipped in off the bench.

Head coach Adrian Provost said it was nice to see so many players contribute across the board.

“I thought we had seven or eight guys play really well tonight,” he said. “Jayson and Preston came off the bench and did exactly what asked and did a nice job. Jayson hit some shots, and then Ian Irps comes in and gives (O’Connor) a break, and does what we need him to do defensively and communicates well. He’s a great teammate.”

The Eagles were shorthanded Friday with six players unavailable, including 6-foot-4 forward Asa Johnson, who could’ve helped combat some of Bishop McNamara’s length, but Jacob Baumann had 16 points in the first half to keep the Eagles within striking distance.

Crucially for Bishop McNamara, Baumann was held off the scoreboard in the third quarter while the Irish lead grew.

“We were trying to do something specific on defense, and I didn’t communicate it well enough to our guys,” Provost said. “We got it figured out at halftime, they did what we asked and it impacted his offense.”

The win was McNamara’s fifth in the last six games and eighth win in 10 games since the calendar flipped to January.

They’re set to play their conference finale against Northridge on Feb. 10, and the Chicagoland Christian Conference Tournament follows after that on Feb. 14.

O’Connor said he and his teammates are feeling confident about where they’re at with the postseason looming, where the Irish will look for a repeat regional title.

“I feel like we’re taking the right steps at the right time,” he said. “We’re climbing really fast, and that’s a good thing because you want to be as good as you can be at this time. Hopefully it pays off.”

The loss for Aurora Christian was its third in the last four CCC games, with one of those losses being a 63-60 overtime heartbreaker to conference leader Hope Academy.

Baumann finished with a game-high 24 points. Joe DeCort was second on the Eagles with nine points. Preston Morel and Noah Zappia added eight points apiece.

Head coach Dan Beebe said he was pleased with his team’s effort Friday considering the pieces they were missing, and once they get back to full strength, he’s optimistic about their prospects as they hit the postseason looking to follow up consecutive sectional titles.

“We scratched and clawed, but just didn’t do enough,” he said. “We’re sitting at 18-5, so we’re in a good spot in terms of where we’re at for the state series. That’ll come out next week in terms of where we’re at, but we’ll be ready to go.”