(Zach Marburger/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — A lock-down defense powered sixth-seeded Denver East to an early lead and an eventual 69-61 victory over No. 3 Rock Canyon on Saturday afternoon in the second round of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament.
Denver East’s hot start didn’t come because of great play on the offensive end – both teams would struggle with turnovers throughout the afternoon – but instead because of their extremely active and aggressive defense.
“We pretty much had an idea that we wanted to get out to a fast start and keep the crowd out of it,” Denver East head coach Rudy Carey said after the win. “We played very good defense, about as good as it’s been all year. That was the key.”
Anchoring the Angels on the defensive end was senior forward Jordan Willis. Willis had a number of blocks down low and helped out early on the offensive end with four points in the first quarter. At the end of the first Denver East was up 15-6 on the Jaguars.
Willis finished the afternoon with nine points.
Also making a big contribution for the Angels was guard Brian Carey. Carey moved the ball extremely well and found the open man again and again in the first half.
“Brian was phenomenal. I’m not trying to be biased,” said Carey, who also happens to his star guard’s uncle. “But Brian is the single most important factor of any team in the state. He’s the driver of our car and he sacrifices his game for us.”
Meanwhile, Rock Canyon was struggling to score, thanks in part to Denver East’s suffocating defense. The Jaguars struggled to make shots from behind the arc, and as they continued to toss up bricks, the room in the paint slowly began to disappear.
At halftime, the Angels were out to a commanding 28-12 lead over the Jaguars.
In the second half however, the game shifted from a one-sided affair into a pretty entertaining contest. Rock Canyon’s Mitch Lombard was unstoppable in the third and fourth, and finished with 35 points in his final game as a senior.
“They’re a heck of a team. They’ll beat a lot of other people in this state,” said senior guard Carey, who helped check Lombard throughout the game. “We prepped on defense all week trying to stop Mitch (Lombard) and Tyler (Garcia), because they’re two hell of a players.”
Garcia added 16 points for Rock Canyon.
The fourth quarter turned into an entirely different game – namely a free-throw shooting contest, as the whistles wouldn’t stop. With Rock Canyon looking to extend the game, Denver East made 20 trips to the free throw line, with mixed results.
“We’ve got to shoot our free throws. One or two guys weren’t making them. We’ve got to get the ball in Brian or Jack (Buckmelter)’s hands,” said Carey. “We can make our free throws, but they weren’t dropping today.”
Carey finished with 24 points to lead the Angels, whose lead was never truly in danger as time wound down.
The win means Denver East will advance to the Sweet 16, where they will take on No. 2 Rangeview Wednesday. Despite leading wire-to-wire in the win, coach Carey still sees a lot of room for improvement as the Angels, the defending 5A champions, look to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“We’ve got make our free throws, and we’ve got to play smarter down the stretch,” said Carey. “Definitely need to take care of the ball better.”