Round by brutal round, Aurora boys basketball teams and the elite around the state continue to beat each other up.
Night in and night out in the 2016-17 season so far — before and after the winter break — the group of teams that look like contenders for the Class 5A state championship appears different.
Teams such as ThunderRidge, George Washington and Denver East all have displayed championship mettle, yet also shown some vulnerability. Around Aurora, the same can be said for teams such as Grandview — the last 5A team to suffer its first loss — Eaglecrest, Smoky Hill, two-time defending state champion Overland and many others.
“The state is really level right now, but there are a couple of guys that are starting to separate a little bit,” Overland coach Danny Fisher, whose team is reloading after winning the past two 5A state titles.
“I think we’ve played everybody in the top five and been in position to compete and win at the end. But some teams have seniors with a lot of varsity experience who know how to stretch it out in the fourth quarter.”
Indeed only a few teams have a lot of experienced players, but many are getting it from the brutal non-league schedules that have
Injuries have been a major factor in the early going for Aurora teams, which leads to a bit of a mystery about how things will play out at the end.
Rangeview — a semifinalist last season — lost dynamic senior point guard Elijah Blake to a torn ACL before the season, while Cherokee Trail is likely without Jaizec Lottie for about a month due to an ankle injury. Smoky Hill sophomore Kenny Foster missed the last game before winter break with a concussion, the same thing that kept senior Lechaun Duhart out for Grandview’s game against Arapahoe, its only loss thus far.
Senior post Gaige Prim has had a monster season for the Wolves thus far (18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game), while Duhart — the Most Valuable Player when Grandview won the Nike Division of the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas — is an absolute handful with the ball in his hands and averages 20.8 points per game, tops in Aurora and eighth in all of 5A.
Coach Michael Rogers’ team may not have the depth of others, but the Wolves — 11-1 overall and 2-1 in the Centennial League after a 62-59 win over Cherokee Trail Jan. 11 — have shooters and role players who should make them difficult to deal with for the entire season.
Led by senior Colbey Ross (averaging 19.5 points per game), Eaglecrest is 9-2 and atop the Centennial League after three quality wins out of winter break. Coach John Olander’s team grew as it went 3-1 in the Orleans Division of the Tarkanian Classic and still has many holdovers from last season’s championship game appearance.
Eaglecrest and Grandview meet in the first of two league matchups at 7 p.m. Jan. 13 on the Wolves’ home floor.
Watch out for Smoky Hill, which lost to Grandview in its Centennial League opener, but rebounded with a clutch road win at Cherokee Trail Jan. 6 and followed that up with a win against Overland on Jan. 11, avenging two losses by an average of 20 points last season.
Coach Anthony Hardin’s Buffaloes took some lumps during last season’s four-win campaign, but have already more than doubled that win total and sit 9-3 after back-to-back quality performances.
“I think this was our first game where our chemistry was on point 110 percent,” Foster said after a 22-point effort against Cherokee Trail, which competed hard without Lottie.
“Everybody had proper spacing and was in the right place at the right time,” he added. “I thought it was a thing of beauty out there.”
Vista PEAK has one of the city’s best records at 8-2 — with losses coming to only a 5A ranked team in Smoky Hill and a 4A ranked team in Pueblo East — and looks primed for a run in 4A.
Coach Gary Childress — who got his 500th career victory before the winter break — has a supremely athletic lineup that now has the maturity it lacked a bit last season even when the Bison made a run to the Sweet 16.
Cherokee Trail should remain competitive until Lottie returns from an ankle sprain and will get a chance to develop its depth. Tyson Rodgers, Deon Barfield and Ian Kelly each can elevate their games for the Cougars.
A few Aurora teams don’t have sparkling won-loss records currently, but will most definitely be factors down the stretch after learning plenty of lessons.
With an almost entirely new cast, Fisher’s Overland team is 4-8 (following its loss to Smoky Hill Jan. 11) and continues to grow each night out. Led by junior Daijon Smith and a variety of players who do a lot of little things such as Goy Wang, Tucson Redding and Asad Yousuf, the Trailblazers should be formidable at season’s end.
Coach Ken Shaw’s Regis Jesuit teams are always to be reckoned with and this season’s team is no different. The Raiders just got above .500 with a 60-52 victory over a competitive Hinkley team on Jan. 11.
Regis Jesuit now has three straight wins to its credit and got a boost in the win over the Thunderbirds with the much-anticipated debut of sophomore big man Samba Kane.
The 6-foot-11 Kane threw the Regis Jesuit home crowd into a frenzy with his performance in limited action as he scored seven points, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked two shots.
For a team that is stocked with talented guards and shooters (led by Sam Bannec with a 15.2 points per game average), the addition of Kane and 6-7 Matt Wheelock — a transfer from Rock Canyon who has yet to play — will certainly cause problems down the line. The Raiders host top-ranked ThunderRidge at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 in their Continental League opener.
Rangeview is also in an unaccustomed position with a 4-6 record following a 71-66 loss to visiting Overland Jan. 10.
Coach Shawn Palmer —whose team went undefeated last season until a semifinal loss to Eaglecrest — has seen fourth quarter leads slip away from the Raiders in five of their six losses and all in a variety of different manners.
The latest came against the Trailblazers in which Rangeview had a seven-point lead on its home floor, only to get outscored 14-3 in the final 3:30 of a 71-66 loss.
“It’s harder on the soul to be in these situations where somebody just takes it from you or you let people take it,” Palmer said. “Whether it’s a loose ball or a rebound, we’re letting people take what is ours.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel that we’re going to look back and say it was worth it and we grew from it. I just don’t know when that is going to be. I’d like it to be soon.”
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
AURORA BOYS BASKETBALL RECORDS (THROUGH JAN. 11 GAMES)
Grandview (11-1 overall, 2-1 in Centennial League); Eaglecrest (9-2 overall, 3-0 in Centennial League); Smoky Hill (9-3 overall, 2-1 in Centennial League); Vista PEAK (8-2 overall, 0-0 in EMAC); Cherokee Trail (6-5 overall, 0-3 in Centennial League); Regis Jesuit (6-5 overall, 0-0 in Continental League); Rangeview (4-6 overall, 0-0 in EMAC); Overland 4-8 (0-3 in Centennial League); Hinkley (0-8 overall, 0-0 in EMAC); Aurora Central (0-10 overall, 0-0 in EMAC); Gateway (0-11 overall, 0-0 in EMAC)
Aurora boys scoring leaders: 1. Lechaun Duhart (Grandview), 20.8 points per game; 2. Matthew Johnson (Rangeview), 20.6 ppg; 3. Colbey Ross (Eaglecrest), 19.5 ppg; 4. Jaizec Lottie (Cherokee Trail), 19.2 ppg; 5. Gaige Prim (Grandview), 18.5 ppg; 6. Kenny Foster (Smoky Hill), 17.3 ppg; 7. Sam Bannec (Regis Jesuit), 15.2 ppg; 8. Larry Thomas (Aurora Central), 13.3 ppg; 9. Marquise Johnson (Vista PEAK), 13.1 ppg; 10. Tyson Rodgers (Cherokee Trail), 12.7 ppg
