AURORA | Ladarius Thomas dunks are rare, but playoff wins also have been scarce lately for the Aurora Central boys basketball team.
Both uncommon occurrences were on display Wednesday night, as the senior guard put the exclamation point on the seventh-seeded Trojans’ 63-50 Class 5A first round state playoff victory over 10th-seeded Heritage.
Despite sitting on the bench for much of the game due to foul trouble, Thomas scored 16 points — including a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line in the fourth quarter — and joined fellow seniors Elijah Coleman (18) and Usman Koromah (14) in double figures for coach Ian Calvert’s team, which won in the playoffs for first time since the program’s Final Four run in 2009-10.
Aurora Central became the seventh Aurora team that will play in Saturday’s second round, as it joins the six city teams who garnered first round byes — top seeds Rangeview, Eaglecrest and Overland, No. 2s Cherokee Trail and Regis Jesuit and No. 3 Grandview — in action. The Trojans play at No. 2 Chatfield (21-2) at 6 p.m.
Heritage (6-17) ended Aurora Central’s season in the opening round of last season’s playoffs, but despite a big game from senior Jack Peck (22 points), couldn’t stop the Trojans this time.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(7) AURORA CENTRAL 63, (10) HERITAGE 50
Score by quarters:
Heritage 18 7 16 9 — 50
Aur. Central 16 11 14 22 — 63
HERITAGE (50)
Jack Peck 8 2-3 22, Casey Opitz 2 0-0 4, Walker Andrew 3 1-2 7, Alex Aratani 0 0-0 0, John Carlson 4 0-0 8, Matt McClurg 0 0-0 0, Jordyn Jimenez 0 0-0 0, Riley Egloff 0 0-0 0, Nick Mejia 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 3-5 50.
AURORA CENTRAL (63)
Ladarius Thomas 5 6-6 16, Usman Koromah 6 1-2 14, Elijah Coleman 6 5-8 18, CJ Porter 0 0-2 0, Kelsey Williams 3 0-0 7, Dom Jackson 1 0-0 3, Larry Thomas 2 0-0 5. Totals 23 12-18 63.
3-point field goals — Heritage (3): Jack Peck 3; Aurora Central (5): Elijah Coleman, Dom Jackson, Usman Koromah, Larry Thomas, Kelsey Williams. Total fouls — Heritage 18, Aurora Central 10. Fouled out — Heritage: Peck. Technical fouls — None.
