AURORA | It wasn’t a classic, and then it was.
Grandview trailed Eaglecrest by 20 points in the second half of Friday night’s showdown of neighborhood rivals, but the game ended in typical Centennial League craziness.
Senior Kain Mack’s go-ahead shot with just under two seconds left in regulation was part of a 31-point explosion in the fourth quarter and the Wolves flat out stole a 70-67 victory from the Raptors in front of a packed house (Video — Mack talks about his game-winning shot).
Coach Mike Rogers’ Wolves fell behind 8-0 out of the gate and led only two times — both in the last 11.3 seconds — yet improved to 12-1 overall and 3-1 in Centennial League play.
“Tonight, 20 points seemed like a lot, but you just have to fight in this league every night,” said Rogers, whose team earned the program’s first win against Eaglecrest since the 2012-13 season when his predecessor, Gary Childress, was on the bench.
The Raptors had won the last five meetings between the teams by an average margin of 26 points — including victories off 22 and 30 points last season — but Grandview finally found the winning recipe.
Senior Lechaun Duhart tallied 12 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, while Dayne Prim added 11 points, Ben Boone 10 and Mack and Gaige Prim nine apiece in what turned out to be a balanced effort.
The Wolves didn’t forget last season’s losses, but vow that this is a new season and demonstrated it with their comeback, cutting the deficit down bit by bit with no panic.
“We have a new Grandview, the old Grandview would have folded and lost that game,” Duhart said. “We got beat by 30 points last year, so we came out here with adversity. In the locker room, coach said he knew we could win. We talked again and again about how good defense transitions into our best offense…Once we started playing hard on defense, things started to go our way.”
Indeed Rogers lamented not turning up the pressure on defense until his team was already in a big hole, but Grandview managed to force a number of uncharacteristic errors from a veteran-laden Eaglecrest team — which had several members of the squad that played in last season’s Class 5A state championship game on the floor in the closing minutes — and took advantage.
Duhart put the Wolves in position at the end with eight points in the final minute. He hit a jumper, followed by a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game with 26 seconds left and then got a steal and converted a three-point play to push his team into the lead for the first time with 11.3 seconds left.
Raptors’ star Colbey Ross drew a foul on the ensuing inbounds pass and cooly knocked down two clutch free throws — the last of his game-high 24 points — but Eaglecrest couldn’t get a defensive stop in the closing seconds.
Mack took the inbounds pass under his own basket, dribbled the length of the floor and then temporarily lost control of the ball as he tried to pass it inside to Gaige Prim. With the ball loose in the air, Prim managed to bat it back to Mack, who sank a one-handed floater to send the gym into hysterics.
The Raptors’ chance to tie or go ahead after Mack’s shot disappeared when they called a time out that they didn’t have. The result was a technical foul, with Duhart knocking down both free throws and then dribbling out the clock to end it.
“It wasn’t anticlimactic for me,” Rogers joked. “I just wanted that last two seconds to tick off and be done with it. We were blessed tonight.”
Seniors Austin Forsberg and Ikenna Ozor contributed 12 points apiece for coach John Olander’s Eaglecrest team, which dropped to 9-3 and 3-1 in the league.
Almost three years ago to the day on the same court, the Raptors rallied from 21 points down to stun on the Wolves on Jaisean Jackson’s buzzer beater.
“I told our guys, you can’t prepare for things like this in practice,” Olander said. “These games don’t make or break our season and our guys know that.
“It never feels good to lose, but if we get better from it, then we’ll take it.”
Rogers sent out a Tweet earlier in the day in anticipation of the atmosphere that was expected and the faithful of both sides delivered.
“I’m not sure there is anything better,” Rogers said. “A Friday night, a rivalry game, it’s cold outside, warm inside. High school basketball.”
The even better thing about the Centennial League is that the teams will play each other again.
The Feb. 8 rematch at The Nest should also be something to behold.
“We’ll be looking forward to seeing them the next time,” Ozor said.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
GRANDVIEW 70, EAGLECREST 67
Score by quarters:
Eaglecrest 22 18 10 17 — 67
Grandview 14 8 17 31 — 70
EAGLECREST (67)
Colbey Ross 7 7-9 24, Austin Forsberg 5 1-2 12, Xaiv’ion Jackson 1 2-2 4, Ikenna Ozor 4 4-4 12, Nate Bokol 3 0-0 6, Victor Garnes 1 4-4 6, Josh Walton 1 0-0 2, Morgan Brown 0 1-2 1, Kenny Thrower 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 19-23 67.
GRANDVIEW (70)
Gunner Gentry 1 1-2 3, Kain Mack 4 0-0 9, Dayne Prim 3 5-5 11, Lechaun Duhart 7 3-3 22, Gaige Prim 3 3-3 9, Ben Boone 4 1-1 10, Jordan Knapke 2 2-2 6, Kameron Osgood 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 10-16 70.
3-point field goals — Eaglecrest (4): Colbey Ross 3, Austin Forsberg. Grandview (4): Lechaun Duhart 2, Ben Boone, Kain Mack. Total fouls — Eaglecrest 18, Grandview 19. Fouled out — Grandview: Gunner Gentry. Technical fouls — Eaglecrest: Bench (no timeouts left)
