AURORA | Calm and composed, the Eaglecrest boys basketball secured a valuable Centennial League road win Tuesday night.
The visiting Raptors stymied Cherokee Trail team in the first half, limiting the young Cougars to just 11 points and cruised to a 62-43 victory in front of a large crowd at Cherokee Trail High School.
Senior Jaisean Jackson scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures for coach John Olander’s Eaglecrest team, which looked every bit worthy of its Class 5A No. 6 ranking in Monday’s Associated Press poll.
Junior Elijah Ross finished with 13 points, junior Blend Avdili contributed 11 and senior Treyvon Williams chipped in 10 points for the Raptors, who improved to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the Centennial League.
Cherokee Trail (5-9, 2-3) got out to a 5-2 lead, but coach Morgan Gregory saw his Cougars outscored 32-6 in the subsequent 14 minutes until halftime — including a 21-4 second quarter — to fall down 23 points at the break.
Despite a big second half from sophomore Ronnie Barfield, who had 17 of his game-high 19 points in the final two quarters, Cherokee Trail never got any closer than 18 points.
Sophomore David Thornton added 10 points and senior Kameron Brandon scored five before fouling out for the Cougars.
The teams meet again on Feb. 14 at Eaglecrest.
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
(6) EAGLECREST 62, CHEROKEE TRAIL 43
Score by quarters:
Eaglecrest 13 21 14 14 — 62
Cher. Trail 7 4 16 16 — 43
EAGLECREST (62)
Elijah Ross 4 3-4 13, LaDerian King 3 1-4 7, Jaisean Jackson 6 3-3 15, Marquel Murphy 1 2-2 4, Blend Avdili 4 3-8 11, Colbey Ross 0 2-4 2, Treyvon Williams 3 4-7 10, Darian Turner 0 0-0 0, Peter Anderson 0 0-0 0, Anthony Karmazyn 0 0-0 0, Blake Tourgee 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 19-32 62.
CHEROKEE TRAIL (43)
Kameron Brandon 2 0-0 5, Tyler Larkin 1 0-0 2, David Thornton 5 0-0 10, Ronnie Barfield 6 7-9 19, Izaiah Lottie 0 0-0 0, Evan White 1 0-0 2, Jaizec Lottie 1 0-0 2, Dillon Garcia 0 0-0 0, KJ Sapp 1 0-0 3, Matt Monson 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-9 43.
3-point field goals — Eaglecrest (2): Elijah Ross 2; Cherokee Trail (2): Kameron Brandon, KJ Sapp. Total fouls — Eaglecrest 12, Cherokee Trail 23. Fouled out — Cherokee Trail: Brandon. Technical fouls — None.
