Lakewood – Midnight came quickly for Cinderella on Wednesday.
Top-seeded East was in high gear from the opening whistle, crushing No. 12 Highlands Ranch with a torrid shooting display and pressure defense while cruising to a 78-47 victory in the Sweet 16 round of the Class 5A boys state tournament.
The Angels led 30-8 late in the first quarter at the Pirate Pit at Alameda High School and 43-14 at halftime and easily won their 13th straight, improving to 22-3.
“We had to jump on them early because they won two games by hanging around,” Angels coach Rudy Carey said.
East advanced to the final of the 12-team Ray Ball Region and will play No. 3 Grandview on Friday at 8:15 p.m. at the Denver Coliseum.
The Angels had five players score in double figures. They shot 52 percent from the perimeter, went 15-of-23 at the free-throw line and forced the Falcons into committing 22 turnovers.
East’s Blake Swain scored a game-high 17 points, Donell Wells contributed 14 and Mookie Gilbert added 12.
Eric Miller grabbed eight rebounds, blocked two shots and scored 10 points to give East four starters scoring in double figures.
And there was a distinct sense of style to the rout.
Wells threw a no-look, behind-the-back pass to a streaking Demetrius Thornton for a dunk by Thornton in the third quarter and then pulled off a nice double-clutch floater in the fourth quarter as the Angels led by as many as 37 points.
Thornton came off the bench to score 14 points.
“You’ve got to do that, to take them out early,” Thornton said. “You can’t give them life so in the second half they think they can come back.”
Highlands Ranch (8-18) led 1-0 before the Angels forced eight turnovers to fuel a 30-7 run.
The Falcons, who had won their past three games by a total of 10 points and knocked off No. 4 seed Chatfield and fifth-seeded Monarch, made just one basket in the second quarter and shot only 36 percent from the field for the game.
“We’ve had a few games like that … but they just never let up,” Falcons guard Eric Mitchell said.
Blake Olson hit three 3-pointers and led the Falcons with 11 points. Bryan Franklin added nine points and four rebounds. Mitch Blaha came off the bench to score eight points before fouling out.
Highlands Ranch 11 3 16 17 – 47
East 30 13 21 14 – 78
Highlands Ranch – Mitchell 2 0-0 5, Davis 2 0-0 5, Marry 0 0-0 0, Olson 4 0-0 11, Franklin 3 3-4 9, Heinz 0 0-2 0, Camisa 3 0-0 7, Blaha 3 2-4 8, Williams 1 0-0 2, Ellsworth 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-10 47.
East – Miller 3 4-6 10, Boyd 1 2-4 4, Swain 8 0-0 17, Wells 5 2-2 14, Gilbert 4 3-4 12, Williams 0 0-0 0, De. Thornton 5 4-5 14, Da. Thornton 0 0-0 0, Flitter 0 0-0 0, Martinez-Doublin 1 0-2 3, Battle 2 0-0 4, Hildreth 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 15-23 78.
3-point goals – Olson 3, Camisa, Davis, Mitchell; Wells 2, Gilbert, Martinez-Doublin, Swain. Total fouls – Highlands Ranch 19, East 12. Fouled out – Blaha. Technicals – None.
