CENTENNIAL | For the second time in three weeks, the Eaglecrest and Overland boys basketball teams battled into overtime and the Raptors again found a way to prevail Thursday night.
Coach Jarris Krapcha’s Eaglecrest team survived for a 65-59 win over the Trailblazers back on Jan. 31 and they met again on the same floor in the championship semifinals of the Centennial League Challenge.
Down by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and still down three with just 17.5 seconds left in regulation, top-seeded Eaglecrest battled back to tie the game and rallied in overtime for a 62-59 victory.
The Raptors will face off with second-seeded Smoky Hill — which topped No. 3 Grandview 67-52 in the other championship semifinal — in a 2:30 p.m. contest at Mullen High School for the Centennial League Challenge title.
Senior Garrett Barger tied for game-high honors with 20 points for Eaglecrest, which also got 15 from senior Anthony Nettles, which put him past the 1,000-point career mark. Senior Lucas Kalimba gave the Raptors a third double-digit scorer with 13.
Senior Siraaj Ali scored 20 points, senior Dontae Graham had 10 and senior TJ Manuel eight for coach Danny Fisher’s fourth-seeded Trailblazers (9-13), which will meet Grandview at 1 p.m. for third place in the tournament.
Nettles knocked down three early 3-pointers to help Eaglecrest break out to a 15-3 lead with 2:10 left in the first quarter, but the Raptors were held to just four more points in the remaining 10 minutes of the half as Overland rallied back to tie it at 19-19 at the break.
Manuel’s 3-pointer early in the 4th quarter broke another tie and the Trailblazers (who got eight points in the third quarter from Ali) upped their advantage to 44-35 with 5:54 left when sophomore Palmer Bass knocked down a triple.
Eaglecrest worked its way back into the game with a rally that included a crazy scoop for an and-1 by Nettles for his first points since the first quarter and a Kalimba 3-pointer pushed the Raptors in front 50-49 with 1:40 left.
The lead see-sawed back and forth, but Overland went up three points on two Ali Free throws, only to see Nettles drain a pull-up 3-pointer with 11.3 seconds left to tie it.
Senior Kyron McDonald’s layup put the Trailblazers on the scoreboard first, but sophomore Kris Coleman (who scored five of his six points in overtime) made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:25 left in the extra period and Eaglecrest held on.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE CHALLENGE
Championship semifinal, Feb. 20 at Eaglecrest H.S.
EAGLECREST 62, OVERLAND 59 (OT)
Score by quarters:
Overland 8 11 18 18 4 — 59
Eaglecrest 15 4 15 21 7 — 62
EAGLECREST (62)
Jason Noone 1 0-0 2, Anthony Nettles 5 1-1 15, Lucas Kalimba 6 0-0 13, Gavin Gallegos 0 0-0 0, Garrett Barger 8 3-4 20, Kris Coleman 1 3-4 6, Demari Manns Davis 2 0-1 4, La’Quince York 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 7-10 62.
OVERLAND (59)
TJ Manuel 3 0-0 8, Siraaj Ali 7 4-6 20, Dontae Graham 4 2-2 10, Mehki McNeal 2 0-0 6, Demetrius Lambert 0 2-2 2, Lawrence Amedor 3 0-0 6, Palmer Bass 1 0-0 3, Solomon Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-10 59.
3-point field goals — Overland (7): Siraaj Ali 2, TJ Manuel 2, Mehki McNeal 2, Palmer Bass. Eaglecrest (7) — Anthony Nettles 4, Garrett Barger, Kris Coleman, Lucas Kalimba. Total fouls — Overland 15. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
