DENVER | Buzzer-beaters get a lot of celebration come state tournament time, but there’s always a team that feels the agony of the other end.
On Friday night at the Denver Coliseum, that was the Eaglecrest boys basketball team, which fought valiantly back against a ThunderRidge team with a decided size advantage, only to get stung by a putback that beat the final buzzer in a 64-62 defeat.
Junior LaDavian King made seven 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 31 points, while junior Garrett Barger had 10 of his 15 in the second half as the Raptors roared back before they finally fell short of what could have been the program’s first chance to play for a state championship since a victory in 2017.
Instead, coach Jarris Krapcha’s team (which broke through the Great 8 round that had stopped it the previous three times) finished 20-7 overall, while it was ThunderRidge that moved into the 6A state championship game against No. 6 Valor Christian, which defeated Aurora’s other semifinalist, No. 7 Smoky Hill.
Just like it had against top-seeded Fruita Monument in the Great 8, Eaglecrest broke out to a big early lead and then watched its opponent pull back. The Raptors went ahead by as many as 11 points on consecutive 3-pointers by King and Jason Noone, but saw the lead frittered to a single point by halftime.
ThunderRidge had a quick spurt to open the second half with three straight inside baskets to open up a five-point advantage and pushed it to 10 with just over half the period gone. The Grizzlies went exclusively inside the entire quarter, with the only outside shot coming on a corner 3-pointer that beat the buzzer by Tommy Wight.
King (who scored nine points in the final period and 17 in the second half) knocked down his seventh 3-pointer of the night at the midway point of the fourth quarter to make it a five-point game.
Three straight Barger baskets — two on putbacks and another on a powerful move — made it a two-point game and after a free throw by ThunderRidge’s Andrew Crawford, King drew a foul shooting a 3-pointer. He knocked down all three shots to set up a final possession for the Grizzlies in a tie ballgame.
Crawford (who had a team-high 22 points) forced up a wild, errant shot as he was double-teamed and Wight crashed in from beyond the free throw line, got just inside Barger and pushed the ball up off the backboard, where it settled into the basket as time expired.
Eaglecrest can look forward to next season when four of its five starters (seniors-to-be Barger, King and La’Quince York and sophomore-to-be Kris Coleman) are expected to return as well as seven of the eight players that logged minutes in the semifinals, including seniors-to-be Noone, Lucas Kalimba and Gavin Gallegos. The only senior who played for the Raptors in the semifinals was SirDevin Roberts, who had four points and five rebounds.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 6A BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
(4) THUNDERRIDGE 64, (8) EAGLECREST 62
Score by quarters:
Eaglecrest 15 14 13 20 — 62
ThunderRidge 10 18 23 13 — 64
EAGLECREST (62)
LaDavian King 7 10-11 31, SirDevin Roberts 1 2-2 4, Kris Coleman 2 1-2 5, Garrett Barger 7 1-1 15, La’Quince York 0 4-4 4, Jason Noone 1 0-0 3, Lucas Kalimba 0 0-0 0, Gavin Gallegos 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 18-20 62.
THUNDERRIDGE (64)
Ryan Doyle 5 0-1 10, Charlie Spann 5 4-6 14, Tommy Wight 6 1-1 14, Drew Paine 1 0-2 2, Andrew Crawford 7 7-7 22, Ryan Gonzales 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 12-17 64.
3-point field goals — Eaglecrest (8): LaDavian King 7, Jason Noone. ThunderRidge (2): Andrew Crawford, Tommy Wight. Total fouls — Eaglecrest 15, ThunderRidge 13. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
