While senior Marc Gamble provided most of Timothy Christian’s offense Thursday night in a Chicagoland Christian Conference match up at Aurora Christian, freshman teammate Lucas Kaciulis’ only basket of the night was the most critical.

Kaciulis’ field goal as time expired capped a 51-50 comeback win.

Gamble scored a game-high 31 points.

“Good win. We found a way to win and sometimes luck is on your side,” said Timothy Christian coach Peyton Wyatt. “Marc played well, but our second unit (Kaciulis, Issac Plaisier, Gavin Ozinga and Lewis Rieger) came in when we were down by eight and brought us back in the fourth quarter.”

“We had a size advantage. That was part of it, and my teammates were able to get me the ball for good scoring positions,” Gamble said about his 31-point effort.

With 13.2 seconds left to play, Dylan Drye’s baseline layup pulled Timothy Christian within 50-49. The Trojans fouled Jalen Callaway in an effort to get the ball back with 9.5 seconds remaining. After Callaway’s second shot missed the mark, Timothy Christian (17-11, 6-4) controlled the rebound.

The ball ended up in hands of the Trojans’ Charlie Crichton, who worked his way to the top of the key and fired a 3-pointer. The ball bounced off the rim and into the hands of Kaciulis on the right wing. The freshman dribbled back to the basket and laid the ball in as the clock ticked down to zero.

“I knew Charlie was going to take the shot, so I positioned myself for the rebound,” Kaciulis said. “And I was able to put the ball into the net in time.”

Aurora Christian (18-6, 5-4) used its 3-point shooting to control the first half. Leading 20-17 at halftime, five of the Eagles’ seven first half buckets were from beyond the arc.

Aurora Christian returned to its inside game to build its lead in the third quarter, with a 37-29 advantage at the start of the last frame.

Timothy Christian scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 37 at the 5:30 mark.

Jacob Bauman’s 3 from the left wing with 3:29 left play put Aurora Christian back on top 44-42. Draining five 3-pointers, the senior led the Eagles’ scoring with 27 points.

The Eagles connected on eight straight free throws to maintain their narrow lead before Dylan Drye’s basket. The junior finished the night with eight points

“I thought we played really well defensively in the first three quarters. We only gave up 29 points and then we gave up 22 in the fourth quarter, so that obviously was a big key to the game,” Aurora Christian coach Dan Beebe said.