Aurora – Cherry Creek found its missing Link in the second half Thursday.
As visiting Grandview began to neutralize the Bruins’ big-man tandem of Taylor Montgomery and Trey Eckloff, Cherry Creek was in need of some badly missing offense.
Ryan Link obliged.
The junior scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and guard Carter Ahlbrandt scored seven of his 10 in the fourth quarter to help the Bruins look pretty after an ugly 46-40 Class 5A Centennial League victory.
“It was very ugly,” said Link, who was 0-for-2 from the field in the first half before scoring seven points in the third quarter as Cherry Creek (5-3, 1-0 league) took the lead for good.
“I was getting open looks and I took advantage of it,” he said. “I was looking to score like I wasn’t in the first and I let it come to me better.”
Montgomery and Eckloff scored the first 17 points for Creek, which trailed 21-20 at halftime. The Wolves did an increasingly good job denying the ball to the low post and held their own in rebounding.
Montgomery scored just three points in the second half and finished with 14, while Eckloff had six points – all in the first half.
“It’s very difficult coming after a break and getting two days of practice for both teams,” Bruins coach Mike Brookhart said. “Grandview played a different kind of defense we haven’t seen, and they did a great job with it. They neutralized Taylor very well and we had to have some kids step up, and they did.”
Creek shot 27 percent from the field while Grandview (4-4, 0-1) committed 17 turnovers.
Chris Fernandez led the Wolves with 15 points and eight rebounds.
“I felt like we did exactly what we wanted to do defensively, we just didn’t value the ball on the offensive end,” Wolves coach Gary Childress said.
Grandview 11 10 6 13 – 40
Cherry Creek 13 7 9 17 – 46
Grandview – McClung 3 4-4 11, Riddle 3 1-4 7, Campbell 1 0-0 3, Fernandez 4 6-7 15, Male 0 2-4 2, Parker 1 0-0 2, Storgaard 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Gross 0 0-1 0, Abrahamson 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 13-20 40.
Cherry Creek – Ahlbrandt 2 4-4 10, Heimbrock 0 0-0 0, Link 4 4-5 12, Montgomery 4 5-6 14, Eckloff 3 0-0 6, Elway 0 0-0 0, Keeth 0 0-0 0, Traina 0 2-2 2, Giles 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 15-17 46.
3-pt. goals – Campbell, Fernandez, McClung; Ahlbrandt 2, Montgomery. Total fouls – Grandview 17, Cherry Creek 16. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
