AURORA | It was senior night for the Aurora Central boys basketball team on Tuesday, but the Trojans will play on their home floor again.
Coach Ian Calvert’s team ran past Gateway 81-37 to close the regular season and secure the top seed from the East Metro Athletic Conference in the process, finishing with a league championship for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
The Trojans — who finished with an identical league mark of 8-1 as Rangeview, but hold the tiebreaker because of a head-to-head win — will find out at Sunday’s CHSAA Selection Show what seed they will have for the Class 5A state playoffs. By virtue of being the league’s top seed, Aurora Central (17-6) is assured of being a top-four seed, which brings with it a first-round bye and a second-round contest on its home floor.
Colorado State-bound Carlton Hurst delighted the home crowd with 25 points and a long-awaited dunk in the closing minutes, Leonard Hurst had a throwdown of his own as part of an 18-point performance and freshman LaDarius Thomas added 15 for the Trojans, who were never threatened.
Senior Damien McIntosh scored 11 points to lead Gateway (6-17, 4-5), which also got eight from junior Austin Hall.
Aurora Central won the first meeting between the teams 69-52 during the season-opening Aurora Public Schools Tip-Off Classic.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at [email protected] or 303-750-7555
AURORA CENTRAL 81, GATEWAY 37
Score by quarters:
Gateway 8 7 9 13 — 37
A. Central 18 23 18 22 — 81
GATEWAY (37)
Henock Tesfay 0 1-2 1, Austin Hall 4 0-2 8, Damien McIntosh 4 1-2 11, Anthony Holmes 1 4-9 6, Tyler Fitzgerald 1 0-2 2, Kamrin Bell 1 0-0 2, Tate Johnson 1 2-2 4, Dazhean Robbins 1 0-0 3, Ben Desta 0 0-0 0, Elijah Coleman 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 8-19 37.
AURORA CENTRAL (81)
Carlton Hurst 8 8-11 25, Leonard Hurst 7 4-7 18, A’Deril Agnew 0 1-2 1, Kavion Mason 3 0-0 6, Tyler Stephenson 3 0-0 9, LaDarius Thomas 6 2-4 15, Marcus Triplett 2 0-0 4, Levi Watson 1 1-2 3, CJ Porter 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 16-26 81.
3-point field goals — Gateway (3): Damien McIntosh 2, Dazhean Robbins; Aurora Central (4): Tyler Stephenson 3, LaDarius Thomas. Total fouls — Gateway 21, Aurora Central 17. Fouled out — Gateway: Austin Hall. Technical fouls — None.
