It was probably East’s best game, although Angels coach Rudy Carey suggested that was when he was forced to sit out his team’s second game after being ejected from the first.
“They beat Columbine and I put up a heckuva Christmas tree,” he joked.
The Angels took over late in the first quarter Saturday afternoon at home in running past Grandview 81-65 in Class 5A nonleague.
The Angels, ranked No. 2 in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, and the Wolves each sit at 3-1.
It was back and forth for most of the first quarter before East’s defensive pressure, lacking for the most part in previous outings, sped up the pace, forced a rash of turnovers that led to layups in transition and kept Grandview chasing.
“We’re coming,” Carey said. “We shot the ball well. The other night, we shot it every time we touched it, but today we were more selective.”
Donell Wells and Blake Swain caught fire in transition, from the perimeter and in the lane. Wells, who had struggled earlier, was 10-of-14 from the floor in totaling 22 points and Swain was masterful from the perimeter, canning five 3-pointers in a 9-of-14 performance for 23 points.
“I got into the flow of the game and that’s what I have to do,” Wells said. “I had been shooting a lot of bad shots lately.”
Said Swain: “I was feeling it.”
So was Grandview, concerning East’s pressure. After exchanging leads multiple times, East’s press, cutting off passing lanes and taking the ball out of Wolves’ hands, became the norm.
“And when they do that, it’s a layup,” Grandview coach Gary Childress said of the Angels. “They just do a great job of attacking the ball, dribbling or holding it. On four or five of them (early), they did a great job of knocking the ball out. They did a good job of exposing that weakness.”
Jamico Verner, DaVaughn Thornton and Mookie Gilbert also rebounded, made steals or filled the lanes on the break.
Grandview had one turnover early, then a dozen by halftime.
The East lead peaked at 17 points in the third quarter. Grandview had a chance to cut it to a 10-point deficit down the stretch, but two missed free throws by the Wolves preceded one of East’s seven 3-pointers.
Mookie Gilbert added 14 points for East. For Grandview, which played again without senior Chris Fernandez, who is hobbled by a sprained ankle, Jordan McClurg (19 points), Josh Riddle (15) and Garrett Male (14) led the way.
Grandview 16 14 16 19 – 65
East 22 15 25 19 – 81
Grandview – McClurg 5 9-10 19, Riddle 5 4-6 15, Campbell 2 0-0 5, Storgaard 1 0-0 2, Dreman 1 0-2 2, Male 5 4-6 14, Parker 4 0-2 8, Mocevic 0 0-0 0, Abrahamson 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0 0-0 0, . Totals 23 17-26 65.
East – Gilbert 5 3-4 14, Swain 9 0-0 23, Thornton 4 1-1 9, Verner 0 2-2 2, Wells 10 2-2 22, Martinez-Doublin 2 0-0 5, Ross 2 0-0 4, O’Brian 0 0-0 0, Hildreth 1 0-0 2. Totals 33 8-9 81.
3-point goals – Campbell, Riddle; Swain 5, Gilbert, Martinez-Doublin. Total fouls – Grandview 16, East 17. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
