The bar is extremely high for Aurora in boys basketball, even though it has now been five years since a city team brought home a state championship.
There was no shortage of contenders, however, as three area teams — Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill in Class 6A and Vista PEAK Prep in 5A — all made the semifinals and were oh-so-close to playing for state titles.
Much of the talent from those teams gets together on the 2023-24 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Basketball Team — picked by the Sentinel in conjunction with balloting of city coaches — which, needless to say, is loaded.
Eaglecrest had the area’s transcendent individual talent in junior LaDavian King, whose perimeter prowess very nearly helped the program make its first state championship game appearance since 2017. King drained seven 3-pointers and he was fouled attempting another in the closing minute of a 6A semifinal against ThunderRidge at Denver Coliseum, and he made all three free throws to create a tie game the Raptors would end up losing on a buzzer-beater.
The Centennial League Player of the Year finished with 31 points — four shy of his season high — in Eaglecrest’s biggest game and his 17.8 points per game average led the league and was second among Aurora players. The area’s most prolific 3-point shooter also averaged 3.7 assists per game to lead coach Jarris Krapcha’s team.
On a Smoky Hill team that prided itself on having a multitude of weapons that made it difficult on opponents, sophomore Carter Basquez was a big straw that stirred it all.
The Buffaloes got scoring from a multitude of places and Basquez — an All-Centennial League first team selection — finished the season with an average of 12 points per game to rank third in a closer leaderboard. His season-high of 27 points came in the Centennial League Challenge championship game where he helped the Buffaloes defeat Overland to win the league title, while he had the shot of the postseason for locals with a buzzer-beating bank shot to beat Mountain Vista in the Great 8.
Basquez (an All-Centennial League first team pick) also chipped in 5.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.2 steals per contest to affect the game in many ways each time out during 20-win season for coach Anthony Hardin’s Buffaloes.
Vista PEAK Prep’s best-ever season — which ended with a heartbreaking two-point loss to Windsor in the 5A Final Four — came with a foundation of playing outstanding team defense.
The biggest reason it worked so well was the presence of 6-foot-10 Kyree Polk in the paint, whose shot-blocking and rebounding made things easier on his teammates. Polk was the city’s top rebounder at 8.7 per game and he contributed 12.9 points per game, getting many on dunks that sparks his team. He led Aurora players with nine double-doubles, including two in the postseason.
Polk’s 58 blocked shots (2.1 per contest) led Aurora and tied him for 3rd in 5A and eight of them came in the biggest game for coach Keenon Clement’s Bison, an agonizing two-point loss to Windsor in the semifinals.
Regis Jesuit didn’t make it to the Denver Coliseum pretty much because it ran into Smoky Hill in an all-Aurora Sweet 16 contest that was a treat down to the final seconds of overtime.
Leading the way for coach Ken Shaw’s Raiders was Eric Fiedler, one of the area’s toughest forces in the paint. The 6-foot-5 sophomore earned All-Continental League first team honors during a season in which he poured in 19 points per game (Aurora’s highest average), while he was third among locals with an average of 7.1 rebounds per contest.
Fiedler’s growth was remarkable, considering he averaged 3.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a freshman.
Overland also came up short of making it to the Coliseum, but the Trailblazers — who should have back virtually their entire roster next season — had a lot of impressive pieces.
Leading the way was junior guard Siraaj Ali, who finished behind only King in scoring average among Centennial League players at 16.6 points per contest, as he continued a tear that began last season. Ali’s scoring average dipped slightly (from 18.1 points per game as a sophomore), but he became a much bigger playmaker for coach Danny Fisher’s team.
Ali’s assists per game average surged from 3.3 last season to 6.4 this season, which was the best in Aurora.
SECOND TEAM: The line between the All-Aurora first and second teams is remarkably thin — and even beyond that — as there were 17 city players that earned all-league first team honors among the Centennial League, City League (4A/5A and 6A), Colorado League and Continental League, as well as 10 others that were second team plus numerous honorable mention. The All-Aurora second team includes two more members of Smoky Hill’s semifinal team in senior Kevin Sylla and junior Kaylan Graham, the Buffaloes’ top two scorers in average at 13.4 and 12.9 points per game, respectively, and both All-Centennial League first teamers. Sylla was also big on the glass and tied for second among city players with five double-doubles. Eaglecrest’s prospects for next season should again be bright with the return of King and fellow junior Garrett Barger, who was the Raptors’ leading rebounder and second in scoring at 12.1 points per contest. Regis Jesuit had a pair of all-league first team picks in the loaded Continental League and the other was senior guard Damarius Taylor, who drained the second-most 3-pointers among city players with 49 (to King’s 76) and averaged a healthy 17.8 points per contest. Vista PEAK Prep had a Swiss Army Knife-type of player in senior Alante Monroe-Elazier, who was the Bison’s leading scorer at 14.3 points per game and gave his team a consistent contribution on both ends of the floor in each contest.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023-24 AURORA SENTINEL ALL-AURORA BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Siraaj Ali, jr., Overland; Carter Basquez, soph., Smoky Hill; LaDavian King, jr., Eaglecrest; Eric Fiedler, soph., Regis Jesuit; Kyree Polk, sr., Vista PEAK Prep
SECOND TEAM
Garrett Barger, jr., Eaglecrest; Kaylan Graham, jr., Smoky Hill; Alante Monroe-Elazier, sr., Vista PEAK Prep; Kevin Sylla, sr., Smoky Hill; Damarius Taylor, sr., Regis Jesuit
— Full 2023-24 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Basketball Team, here