AURORA | Three Aurora boys basketball teams gave their respective home crowds a thrill in Tuesday night’s Sweet 16 round of the Class 6A playoffs, while two almost played spoilers on the road.
Top-seeded Rangeview, second-seeded Eaglecrest and No. 9 Regis Jesuit all navigated through various amount of adversity and came out on top to earn coveted berths among the teams that will play in the Great 8 round Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
No. 22 Overland and No. 25 Grandview both nearly came away with upset road wins, but had their seasons come to an end after spirited postseason performances.
Here’s a brief breakdown of Aurora’s Sweet 16 contests Tuesday:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(9) REGIS JESUIT 59, (25) GRANDVIEW 56
Host Regis Jesuit came out hot against Grandview in front of a packed house in the Guy Gibbs Gym with the first 12 points of the game, then saw the visitors immediately fight back as had been the case in two previous postseason wins. The Wolves had a one-point lead with 2:15 left before a go-ahead basket from junior Eric Fiedler, who scored a game-high 27 points for the Raiders. Senior Lucas Dickinson finished with 18 points for coach Ken Shaw’s Regis Jesuit team, which will face No. 1 Rangeview in the Great 8, while Grandview finished 14-12 in Ryan Turk’s return to the bench. Seniors Trevor Thomas and Breven Anderson had 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Wolves.
(6) MOUNTAIN VISTA 88, (22) OVERLAND 77 (2OT)
Visiting Overland got hot in the second half and put itself in position to pull off a second straight upset in the tournament, as coach Danny Fisher’s team got up by as many as eight points early in the fourth quarter, only to see host Mountain Vista rally. The Golden Eagles missed two free throws with 0.5 seconds left in the first overtime, Mountain Vista outscored Overland 13-2 in the second overtime to win. The Trailblazers — who got 20 points apiece from senior guards Siraaj Ali and TJ Manuel — finished with an 11-14 record.
(2) EAGLECREST 71, (15) ARVADA WEST 61
Playing on its home floor, Eaglecrest held off another challenge with a key late performance to earn a trip to the Denver Coliseum for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Coach Jarris Krapcha’s Raptors trailed visiting Arvada West by a point with just over minutes left, but went on a subsequent 7-0 run and took a lead they wouldn’t give up as they closed it out at the free throw line. Four players scored in double figures for Eaglecrest, which was paced by senior Anthony Nettles with 18 points and sophomore Kris Coleman with 15.
(1) RANGEVIEW 77, (16) GEORGE WASHINGTON 47
In front of a frenetic home crowd, Rangeview got to enjoy the last few minutes of what turned out to be a blowout victory with an assortment of big shots and dunks, but it wasn’t easy early for coach Shawn Palmer’s team, which led George Washington by just three points at halftime. The Raiders got the edge to double figures by the end of three quarters with help from seven points from senior LaDavian King and six from senior Kenny Black-Knox III and poured in 26 points in their final quarter on their home court before they move on the Great 8 for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Black-Knox III had a game-high 23 points, while King added 18 and sophomore Archie Weatherspoon V 17.
