Go to any Rangeview boys basketball game this season and you’ll see baselines clogged with videographers, looking to capture jaw-dropping highlights.
It’s a pretty good bet, as a cast that includes junior Archie Weatherspoon V and sophomore Marceles Duncan and the Raiders’ typical arsenal of athletes produces fantastic finishes, highlight-reel dunks and 3-pointers.
But an appetizer to the flash is the real work put in defensively by coach Shawn Palmer’s team, which is off to a 9-3 start and 6-0 against Colorado opponents.
“Play defense and after that, that’s where you see those highlights on Instagram,” Weatherspoon V said with a smile.
Last season’s Rangeview team that went undefeated all the way until a Class 6A semifinal loss to Valor Christian was an offensive juggernaut that averaged more than 72 points per game, but this season’s group — minus graduated scorers such as LaDavian King and Kenny Black-Knox — has dedicated itself to the defensive end.
It’s the first thing they work on every practice and a combination of exceptional athleticism and getting a feel for each other has created a formidable unit.
“At the beginning of the season, we thought we could just score and get away with it,” Weatherspoon V said. “But we’ve been working on our communication and that really comes through on defense.
“You have to trust each other. If I don’t think my help side is going to be there, I’m going to try to do it myself or foul or do something I shouldn’t do.”
The Raiders were tested greatly out of state with a combined seven games before winter break between three games in Arizona and four in an elite bracket of the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.
Though 1-3 at the Tarkanian Classic, Rangeview held its own against some powerhouse opponents. The Raiders held Redondo Union (Calif.) — currently ranked No. 13 nationally by MaxPreps — to 65, which is 10 below its season average. Carter (Texas), against which Rangeview got its only win, scored nine points under its average and Riviera Prep (Fla.) finished 11 below its usual output.
“What I was most happy with in Vegas was how we guarded,” Palmer said. “We really, really defended the high level teams and held some nationally ranked teams to 10-15 points blow their average. It’s not like we play slow, we just really defended. We can cause people a lot of problems if we stay committed.”
The Las Vegas performance provided an illustration the players needed.
“Honestly, since last year, I felt like we’ve been the best defensive team,” senior Aidan Perez said. “We rely on our defense and it helps us win games. We take a lot of pride in it and coming back after what we did in Vegas helped a lot.”
Indeed, the first thing Rangeview did in its return to play in Colorado was pitch a shutout in the first quarter of a Jan. 9 cross-town visit to Grandview.
The Wolves — a strong nine-win group which has averaged a healthy 62.2 points per game — didn’t crack double figures until the second half and managed only 40 for the game, which remains almost 10 fewer than their previous season low.
That outing contributed to an overall performance against Colorado teams in which Rangeview has allowed just 44.7 points per game ahead of a Jan. 21 showdown with George Washington. It limited Northfield to 43 (30 under its average) in a sizable City League win and the outlier is 68 points surrendered to Continental League powerhouse Mountain Vista in a game Rangeview still won on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by sophomore Dario Washington.
If that brand of defense continues, Rangeview will give itself a genuine chance to win the 6A state title given what it has on the offensive end of the floor, the leadership it has internally and the presence of Palmer, who guided the program to its second state championship in 2019.
Weatherspoon V currently averages 21.4 points per game and is one of the most dynamic scorers in the classification, while Duncan — an extremely athletic 6-foot-5 frontcourt player who leads the team in rebounding, steals and blocked shots — who has an average of 15.7 points per game thus far.
Add in Perez, a captain who has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season up to 11.1 points per contest, dependable senior Anthony Andrew and an assorted cast of others who continue to fine-tune their roles and the recipe — with a heaping helping of defense — is indeed a tasty one.
“We’re hoping to take state this year,” Perez said. “We came up a little short last year, but this year we’re making sure we’re more ready, more prepared from scout to everything we do. We’re locked in 100 percent.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports