AURORA | Completely reshaped by graduation and transfer, the reconstituted Eaglecrest boys basketball was unable to defend the Class 6A state championship won by its predecessor.
The new cast for coach Jarris Krapcha’s Raptors had a strong season with 17 victories, but a postseason one is not in that total, as they lost to Liberty 70-59 on their home floor Friday night in at 6A second round playoff contest.
The 21st-seeded Lancers got up big and held on in crunch time to top 12th-seeded Eaglecrest, which had been to at least the Sweet 16 round of the postseason for 13 consecutive seasons and to at least the Great 8 in four of the last five.
Junior Demari Manns Davis scored 25 points, while junior Reece Brown and sophomore Clayton Kalimba had 11 apiece for the Raptors, who finished the season 17-7. Liberty (17-7), meanwhile, heads to a March 3 Sweet 16 contest against fifth-seeded Rock Canyon.
In the first postseason meeting between the programs in at least 23 years — and maybe ever — the visiting Lancers came out hot and managed to built a six-point lead at halftime. Kalimba played a big role in keeping Eaglecrest close, as he scored what turned out to be all 11 of his points in the opening two periods.
The Raptors shaved a point off the deficit in the third quarter — thanks to Manns Davis, who went 9-for-9 from the free throw line and had 11 of his team’s 15 points — and went into the final period down 48-43.
Eaglecrest got within two points in the first minute of the 4th quarter at 48-36 on Jayden Bradley’s 3-pointer, but a deep triple by junior reserve Cameron Cunningham (who had a team-high 18) answered immediately for Liberty.
A Brown 3-pointer made it a 56-53 game with 5:35 left, but the Lancers were able to slowly edge away and get their lead to double figures with two minutes left.
Eaglecrest saw its earliest postseason exit since a second round loss to Fountain-Fort Carson back in 2012.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 6A BOYS STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS (2ND ROUND)
(21) LIBERTY 70, (12) EAGLECREST 59
Score by quarters:
Liberty 17 17 14 22 — 70
Eaglecrest 14 14 15 16 — 59
LIBERTY (70)
Steven McAllister 4 3-4 11, Gavyn Franz 2 0-0 5, Akai Council 6 4-4 16, Zay Bradley 6 0-0 15, Clay Shetler 0 0-0 0, Cameron Cunningham 5 6-8 18, Zach Hoskins 1 0-0 2, Kieran Otsea 1 0-0 3, Emery Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 13-16 70.
EAGLECREST (59)
Jayden Bradley 2 0-0 5, JayAnthony Green 1 0-0 2, Clayton Kalimba 3 3-3 11, Reece Brown 5 0-0 11, Demari Manns Davis 6 13-17 25, Grant Reeves 1 0-0 2, RJ Henderson 1 0-0 3, Kuol Abuk 0 0-0 0, David Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 16-20 59.
3-point field goals — Liberty (7): Zay Bradley 3, Cameron Cunningham 2, Gavyn Franz, Kieran Otsea. Eaglecrest (5): Clayton Kalimba 2, Jayden Bradley, Reece Brown, RJ Henderson. Total fouls — Liberty 14, Eaglecrest 15. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
