East’s long-distance shooting was vital in its 79-66 victory over visiting Thomas Jefferson on Saturday afternoon.
The Angels, ranked No. 1 in The Denver Post/9News Class 5A poll, drilled 12 3-pointers – to the Spartans’ zero – in never trailing, a fair amount of the time leading by double figures.
However, East still seems far from where it wishes to be – meshing into a complete game heading into tournament time.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Angels improved to 16-3 overall and 5-0 in the DPL. With huge games remaining against surprising Montbello (next Saturday) and the season-ender Feb. 18 against George Washington, coach Rudy Carey said he expects more, particularly from a mental standpoint.
“We’re inconsistent,” he said. “We’re playing dumb basketball, not-so-smart basketball.”
The Angels ran to a 7-0 lead only to give up a lob pass at the end of the first quarter that cut it to a 24-21 margin.
A 20-9 scoring edge in the second quarter ultimately proved to be the difference as TJ (10-9, 1-4) kept scratching back through creating turnovers and benefiting from some ill- advised passing and shot selection by the Angels.
“We need to work on ourselves to get better,” Carey said.
Blake Swain (17 points, including five 3-pointers), Demetrious Thornton (14), Mookie Gilbert (13) and Ben Boyd (12) led the Angels, who also were aided by TJ’s poor outside and free-throw shooting (24-of-36).
“It seems like every game we get farther away as a team, but we definitely have to pick it up,” East’s Donnell Wells said.
Gilbert, a sophomore transfer from Mountain View in Loveland, drew Carey’s ire by needlessly hanging on the rim after a dunk in the second half, drawing a technical foul and interrupting the game’s flow.
“We have to be much smarter than that and stop questioning things,” Carey said.
TJ, the defending 4A champion, has had its own set of woes, notably multiple nagging injuries for much of the season and foul trouble Saturday for David Holt. In addition, pivot strongman Pierre Allen was held to two baskets.
Coach Grant Laman’s guys remain game, but they’re having one of those seasons with three one-point losses, and another in which a tying 3-pointer was squeezed off after the regulation buzzer. The Spartans have lost five of their past six games.
“That’s a very good team,” Laman said of the Angels. “We did compete, and that’s good, but it’s just frustrating for us.”
Allen and Lawon Benford paced the Spartans with 14 points apiece. Ryan Atherton and Holt each added 11.
Thomas Jefferson 21 9 14 22 – 66
East 24 20 14 21 – 79
Thomas Jefferson – Benford 5 4-6 14, Atherton 4 3-6 11, Kane 6 0-0 12, Allen 2 10-15 14, Holt 3 5-6 11, Lewis 1 0-0 2, McCullough 0 0-0 0, Ratcliff 0 0-1 0, Askew 0 2-2 2. Totals 21 24-36 66.
East – Miller 1 4-4 6, Boyd 4 4-6 12, Swain 6 0-1 17, Wells 2 2-6 8, Gilbert 5 0-0 13, Thornton 3 8-12 14, Martinez-Doublin 1 1-2 3, Williams 2 0-0 6. Totals 24 19-31 79.
3-point goals – Swain 5, Gilbert 3, Wells 2, Williams 2. Totals fouls – Thomas Jefferson 22, East 23. Fouled out – Askew; Wells. Technical foul – Gilbert.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-820-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
