AURORA | Eaglecrest’s LaDerian King is supremely confident about anywhere on the basketball floor, except the free throw line.
But it was at the charity stripe he found himself unexpectedly Wednesday night with fractions of a second left in the Raptors’ Centennial League boys basketball showdown at Overland High School.
King — who to the surprise of everybody managed to draw a foul call in the final seconds of a tie game — missed his first free throw to the left, but buried the second one to give Class 5A No. 4 Eaglecrest a 59-58 victory against seventh-ranked Overland.
Junior Elijah Ross scored a game-high 25 points and fellow junior Blend Avdili added 22 for the Raptors, who improved to 13-3 overall and finished in first place after the first of two rounds of Centennial League play at 6-1.
Junior Ryan Swan scored 13 points and junior Austin Conway added 10 for Overland, which dropped to 10-6 overall and sits in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings at 4-3 with Arapahoe and Cherry Creek.
The teams play again at Eaglecrest on Feb. 21.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasentinel.com. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(4) EAGLECREST 59, (7) OVERLAND 58
Score by quarters:
Eaglecrest 15 17 13 14 — 59
Overland 17 12 13 16 — 58
EAGLECREST (59)
Elijah Ross 6 11-13 25, LaDerian King 1 1-3 3, Jaisean Jackson 1 2-5 4, Marquel Murphy 0 0-0 0, Blend Avdili 7 6-8 22, Treyvon Williams 1 1-1 3, Peter Anderson 1 0-0 2, Colbey Ross 0 0-0 0, Anthony Karmazyn 0 0-0 0, Blake Tourgee 0 0-0 0. Totals. 17 23-30 59.
OVERLAND (58)
T’Aren Williams 2 1-2 7, Austin Conway 4 1-2 10, De’Ron Davis 2 4-8 8, Tyler Stevenson 0 0-0 0, Ryan Swan 6 0-0 13, Jervae Robinson 2 0-0 5, King Grant-Perry 2 0-0 4, Tre Thomas 2 0-0 4, Khalil Jenkins 2 0-0 6, Reggie Gibson 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-12 58.
3-point field goals — Eaglecrest (4): Blend Avdili 2, Elijah Ross 2; Overland (7): Khalil Jenkins 2, T’Aren Williams 2, Austin Conway, Jervae Robinson, Ryan Swan. Total fouls — Eaglecrest 12, Overland 21. Fouled out — Overland: Swan. Technical fouls — Overland: Swan.
