DENVER | Aurora had a smaller contingent than last year at Saturday’s Show All-Star game at the Pepsi Center, but city players had a big impact on the result.
Seven Aurora players suited up for the winning squad in the 2013 all-star game sponsored by the Denver Nuggets and two of them — Rangeview’s Jeremiah Paige and Overland’s De’Ron Davis — returned, plus one other in Overland’s Austin Conway.
The Aurora trio did their best to help lift the Blue Team to victory, but the Gold Team — featuring Most Valuable Player Dominique Collier of Class 5A boys state basketball champion Denver East — overcame it on its way to an 83-79 victory. (Photo gallery of the game, here.)
Paige — a Colorado State signee who finished with a game-high 20 points in the losing effort — got a dunk early and had a smile on his face until the end, when he scored seven points in the fourth quarter as the Blue Team’s rally came up just short.
“It was a lot of fun going out there and hooping with a lot of friends,” said Paige, who also played in the Show last season. “We were joking around a lot, but at the end we got serious.”
Davis, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, tallied 19 points in his second Show appearance and was much more active than last season, when he scored just four.
Best of all, he got to match up against Highlands Ranch’s Zach Braxton of the Gold Team, a 6-9 post player headed to play Division I basketball at Weber State.
Braxton finished with more rebounds, but Davis scored more points with a performance that included a 3-pointer and a couple of big dunks.
“He’s one of the other good big men in Colorado; there aren’t too many of them, so it’s good to against him,” Davis said. “He’s experienced, physical and knows how to throw his weight around, so it was good to play him. …I think I improved my game from last time, so I had a lot of fun.”
Conway, playing in his first Show as a junior, contributed four points and did a good job distributing the ball to his team’s many weapons.
“It was pretty cool to play with all these great athletes and these seniors who are moving on,” said Conway, who along with Davis and Colorado Academy sophomore Justin Bassey were the only underclassmen in the game.
“It was a blessing to be in this game and it’s always great to play at the Pepsi Center,” added Conway, who played on the Nuggets home floor during the regular season when Overland faced Gateway.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2014 THE SHOW ALL-STAR BOYS BASKETBALL GAME
GOLD 83, BLUE 79
Score by quarters:
Blue 19 21 18 21 — 79
Gold 12 21 24 26 — 83
BLUE (79)
Dylan Clark (Sand Creek) 1 0-0 2, JEREMIAH PAIGE (RANGEVIEW) 7 5-7 20, Chase Foster (Valor Christian) 4 0-0 9, Ibrahim Sylla (Denver South) 3 1-2 7, Jonathan Barnes (Ponderosa) 3 1-3 7, AUSTIN CONWAY (OVERLAND) 1 2-3 4, DE’RON DAVIS (OVERLAND) 7 4-4 19, Ghassan Nehme (Cheyenne Mountain) 2 0-0 4, Brady Baer (Akron) 1 0-0 3, Alex Semadeni (Fossil Ridge) 2 0-0 4. Totals 31 13-19 79.
GOLD (83)
Dominique Collier (Denver East) 6 1-2 15, Jake Pemberton (Mountain Vista) 2 4-4 9, Ronnie Harrell (Denver East) 3 3-3 9, Zach Braxton (Highlands Ranch) 6 5-10 17, Toby Van Ry (Fort Collins) 4 2-4 10, Broderick Robinson (Grand Junction) 1 0-0 3, Justin Bassey (Colorado Academy) 3 0-1 7, Collin Smith (Thompson Valley) 4 0-0 11, Treyvon Andres (Thomas Jefferson) 1 0-0 2, Josh Fiscus (Peetz) 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 15-24 83.
3-point field goals — Blue (4): Brady Baer, De’Ron Davis, Chase Foster, Jeremiah Paige; Gold (8): Collin Smith 3, Dominique Collier 2, Justin Bassey, Jake Pemberton, Broderick Robinson. Total fouls — Blue 13, Gold 9. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
MVP — Dominique Collier (Denver East), 15 points