AURORA | The Gateway boys basketball team kept itself alive in the chase for the Colorado League title with a come-from-behind home victory over Skyview Tuesday night.
Junior Oriel Bailey’s putback inside the final minute broke a tie and senior Josh Arce and junior Maximus Matthews knocked down free throws in the final 22.6 seconds as the Olys held on for a 48-42 victory that stretched their winning streak to three games.
Coach Ibn Shabazz’s Gateway team saw a nine-point halftime lead whittled to one after three quarters and then fell behind the Wolverines by four points early in the final period before it outscored Skyview 11-3 the rest of the way to improve to 12-8 on the season.
The victory also set up a key matchup with Adams City at 7 p.m. Thursday in which Gateway can earn the top seed in the upcoming league tournament with a victory.
Arce finished with a team-high 17 points, while Matthews had 10, junior Kaiemion Ashley nine and Bailey eight in a balanced effort for the Olys.
Down 39-35 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Ashley hit a floater and then a 3-point shot to put Gateway back in front with just under five minutes left. The game ended up tied at 42-42 with 55.2 seconds remaining before Bailey got an offensive rebound and made a putback as he was fouled.
Bailey missed the free throw, but Arce got the rebound and was eventually fouled. He made both free throw, as did Matthews with seven seconds left to seal the victory.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Gateway 48, Skyview 42
Score by quarters:
Skyview 8 13 13 8 — 42
Gateway 13 17 5 13 — 48
SKYVIEW (42)
David Gomez 0 1-2 1, Jose Gonzales 1 1-2 4, Jorge Rodriguez 8 1-2 20, Jacob Garcia 1 0-2 2, Tomi Parapunov 5 0-0 10, Xander Moralez 2 0-0 5, Emanuel Mendoza 0 0-0 0,
GATEWAY (48)
Oriel Bailey 4 0-2 8, Josh Arce 5 2-2 17, Ali Atfi 1 0-0 2, Karim Bellali 1 0-0 2, Maximus Matthews 3 4-6 10, Kaiemion Ashley 4 0-0 9, Buk Buk 0 0-0 0, Abukar Hassam 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 6-10 48.
3-point field goals — Skyview (5): Jorge Rodriguez 3, Jose Gonzales, Xander Moralez. Gateway (6): Josh Arce 5, Kaiemion Ashley. Total fouls — Skyview 14, Gateway 14. Fouled out — Gateway: Ali Atfi. Technical fouls — Gateway: Atfi.