AURORA | In completely opposite ways, Gateway and Douglas County each had tallied 69 points with two minutes remaining in Friday night’s non-league boys basketball matchup.
To that point, the outside-oriented Huskies had knocked down 11 3-pointers, but had several leads erased by the Olys, who shared the basketball and scored repeatedly in the paint to make up ground.
The late deadlock didn’t last long, however, as Douglas County owned the final two minutes by outscoring Gateway 10-2 — including one last 3-pointer — on its way to a 79-71 victory.
Coach Jason Dixon’s Olys — who beat Monarch by 20 points two days earlier to open play after winter break — dropped to 3-7 despite 23 points from sophomore DJ Wilson and 19 from senior Michkaleke Baker.
Gateway lost last season’s matchup with Douglas County by 22 points, but kept within range the entire time, though the Huskies (7-2) — who got at least one 3-pointer from nine of the 10 players who got on the floor —built double-digit leads in both halves before finally holding on to the last advantage.
The Olys trailed 64-53 with just 6 minutes, 15 seconds, remaining before Marcus Hill’s 3-pointer — the only triple of the night for Gateway — sparked a run that produced a 64-64 tie with 4:20 remaining on Wilson’s nifty inside hook.
The rally included a little bit of everything from the Olys, including four points from Wilson, three points apiece from Hill and senior James Willard and one from senior David Haywood.
Haywood later made a layup to tie the game at 69-69 and could have given Gateway the lead with a free throw, but it missed its mark. The Olys got a stop on the defensive end, but Douglas County’s CamRon Dunfee came up with a steal and go-ahead dunk.
Mikail Zadeh upped the margin to five with a 3-pointer and TJ Boykins — who led the Huskies with 17 points — made a pair of free throws to give Douglas County an insurmountable late lead. Hill’s jumper in the final seconds stood as Gateway’s only points in the final two minutes.
The Olys close out their non-league slate Jan. 11 with a visit to Pine Creek before opening East Metro Athletic Conference play the next night at Thornton.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
DOUGLAS COUNTY 79, GATEWAY 71
Score by quarters:
Douglas Co. 16 18 24 21 — 79
Gateway 12 22 17 20 — 71
DOUGLAS COUNTY (79)
CamRon Dunfee 5 4-4 16, Mikail Zadeh 2 0-0 6, TJ Boykins 3 9-10 17, Brenden Temple 3 2-3 9, Justin Ritchie 2 1-2 5, JJ. Dunfee 1 2-2 5, John Perre 4 0-0 9, Quincy Burland 3 1-2 8, Kenneth Saunders 1 0-0 3, Adam Taylor 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 19-23 79.
GATEWAY (71)
Michkaleke Baker 7 3-4 19, Noah Harrison 1 0-0 2, David Haywood 3 1-2 7, Anthony Guyton 2 0-0 4, DJ Wilson 10 3-4 23, James Willard 2 1-1 5, Marcus Hill 5 0-0 11. Totals 28 8-11 71.
3-point field goals — Douglas County (12): TJ Boykins 2, CamRon Dunfee 2, Mikail Zadeh 2, Quincy Burland, J. Dunfee, John Perre, Justin Ritchie, Kenneth Saunders, Brenden Temple. Gateway: Marcus Hill. Total fouls — Douglas County 20, Gateway 15. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
