BOULDER | O-Town is rocking tonight.
Playing in front of a crowd at the Coors Events Center heavy with ‘Blazer Nation supporters who trekked all the way up from Aurora, the Overland boys basketball team dethroned defending Class 5A state champion Denver East and earned a chance to make history.
The top-seeded Trailblazers’ thorough 72-52 victory over the sixth-seeded Angels pushed the program into the state championship game for the first time since 1990 and kept alive the possibility of the first hoops title in school history.
“We have to continue to take this one step at a time, but what a run for us and a way to pull one through so we can live to see another day,” senior Austin Conway said.
An all-Aurora championship game went by the boards in the first semifinal, when ThunderRidge held off Eaglecrest 57-47, so Centennial League champion Overland will have to go through the Continental League champion Grizzlies in the state final at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Senior Ryan Swan poured in a game-high 17 points, junior De’Ron Davis played through foul trouble to score 16 points and pull down 17 rebounds and junior Reggie Gibson (12) and Conway (10) also got in double figures for coach Danny Fisher’s Trailblazers (22-5).
“It’s been a year waiting for this game; it felt good to get out the bitter taste from last year,” said Swan, referring to Overland’s loss to Denver East in last season’s semifinals.
Jack Buckmelter scored 15 points and Brian Carey and Ben Potts scored 12 apiece to pace the Angels (17-11), who led by two points after one quarter, but fell behind early in the second quarter and never got the lead back. Denver East was in search of its 12 all-time state championship.
Swan looked forward to the matchup with ThunderRidge.
“It should be a good game; I feel like we’re equally matched big wise, so it’s going to come down to guard play,” he said. “I’m very confident with what we’ve got there.”
To beat surging Denver East, Overland had to survive the Angels’ early surge of energy, which it did after falling behind immediately following the opening tip-off.
Down a basket after the first quarter, the Trailblazers had a huge second quarter to take a lead it wouldn’t surrender. Davis and Swan each scored a pair of hoops in the first three minutes of the period, the second by Davis finally giving the Blazers the lead at 19-17.
Swan — who scored nine of his points in Overland’s 24-point second quarter — drained a 3-pointer to push the ‘Blazers’ lead to eight points in the final minute of the half, while senior King Grant-Perry made strong contributions on the boards with Davis on the bench in foul trouble.
“We’ve been starting off games slow, so we knew we would get in the flow,” Davis said. “Nobody panicked and we found our rhythm.”
Though Buckmelter got hot in the third quarter with eight points for Denver East, Davis countered with nine of his own in the period and began to dominate the game defensively.
Carey’s determined drive for a basket plus an and-1 free throw made it 51-44 inside the final minute of the third, but Swan and Alijah Halliburton contributed inside hoops to help Overland exit the quarter with the lead at nine.
“Last year, we probably would have freaked out when they came at us, but this year we’ve grown,” Swan said. “We handled it well and got it done.”
Angels’ rebounding force Jordan Willis picked up his fifth foul in the opening minute of the final quarter and the Trailblazers took advantage to push the lead as high as 18 points before both teams cleared their benches with 2:40 remaining.
It was another mature game by Overland, in which it played calm and collected the whole way.
“That’s Coach instilling in our heads of taking every possession one by one and valuing every possession,” Conway said. “We want a great shot on offense and to play great defense every possession so those runs will be hard to go on. It continues to build our momentum instead of letting them build it.”
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(1) OVERLAND 72, (6) DENVER EAST 52
Score by quarters:
Den. East 13 14 19 6 — 52
Overland 11 24 20 17 — 72
DENVER EAST (52)
Jordan Willis 2 2-2 6, Jack Buckmelter 6 2-4 15, Deron Harrell 2 1-2 5, Brian Carey 5 2-4 12, Ben Potts 5 0-0 12, Samba Dioum 0 1-2 1, Wesley Ogsbury 0 0-0 0, Kevin Mackey 0 0-3 0, Scott Wiese 0 0-0 0, Joseph Abiakam 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 9-20 52.
OVERLAND (72)
Reggie Gibson 3 4-4 12, Austin Conway 3 4-6 10, Padiet Wang 0 1-2 1, De’Ron Davis 5 6-8 16, Ryan Swan 8 0-0 17, King Grant-Perry 4 1-2 9, Alijah Halliburton 3 1-2 7, Brent Halliburton 0 0-0 0, Daniel Lucas 0 0-0 0, Bruce Jackson 0 0-0 0, Malik Clark 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 17-24 72.
3-point field goals — Denver East (3): Ben Potts 2, Jack Buckmelter; Overland (3): Reggie Gibson 2, Ryan Swan. Total fouls — Denver East 15, Overland 18. Fouled out — Denver East 15, Overland 18. Technical fouls — Denver East bench.
