AURORA | The Aurora Central boys basketball team battled back from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter and went on to a 61-58 win at Gateway Monday night in a semifinal game of the Colorado League tournament.
Junior Bishop Dankyi’s 3-pointer from the wing with a minute left — his only hoop of the night — broke a tie and held up as the winning points as coach Marcus Shelton’s Trojans advanced to the league championship game.
Junior Camron Crisp and freshman Alejandro Flores scored 19 points apiece to lead Aurora Central, which won its fourth straight game. The Trojans (10-12) will face Adams City — a 63-53 winner over Skyview in the other semifinal — at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gateway.
Aurora Central and Adams City will play each other for the third time this season and the Eagles have won both games against the Trojans (70-62 on Jan. 23 and 85-78 on overtime Feb. 2).
The host Olys — who had the top seed in the four-team tournament — saw a 42-35 lead early in the final period slip away.
Coach Ibn Shabazz’s Gateway team, which had its four-game winning streak snapped and is now 13-9, will play Skyview at 5:30 p.m. for third place. The Olys defeated the Wolverines 48-42 on Feb. 7 (recap, here).
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Aurora Central 61, Gateway 58
Score by quarters:
Aur. Central 11 8 16 26 — 61
Gateway 13 12 14 19 — 58