Loveland – Wham! Pow! Zing! Or for that matter, any other “Batman” adjective you could think of fits what Aurora Central did to Poudre on Thursday night at the Budweiser Events Center.
The top-seeded Trojans dominated the Front Range League champions 59-51 in the Sweet 16 of the Glenn Wilson Region at the Budweiser Events Center.
The Trojans (25-0) return to the Great 8 and meet Cherry Creek, the team that knocked them out of the tournament last season, at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
“(Former Baylor coach Dave Bliss) told me the wheel falls off of everybody’s bus at some point in the season, except for the last team,” Aurora Central coach Bobby Caton said. “And that’s what I told our players. We just have to be ready to go every game. Creek will be fun.”
Aurora Central showed signs of vulnerability early, but took advantage of the young Impalas when the chance surfaced. Poudre’s big men, Dallas Elmore and Anthony Crenshaw, were forced to the bench early in the second quarter, and the much bigger and more physical Trojans went right at the reserves.
Sean Cunningham and company were up 21-20 when Crenshaw sat down. Aurora Central then went on an 8-0 run to finish out the second quarter. Poudre never got any closer.
Said Poudre coach Jeff Schelly: “When those guys were on the bench, we felt like we were getting good shot selection, but they were all contested incredibly well. Being down 10 against them is a really tough corner to be in.”
The lead grew to 12 by the end of the third quarter, thanks to forward Chris Kelly and sixth man Brock Veasley, who provided the spark off the bench with eight points.
Cunningham led all scorers with 24 points, and fellow guard Stephen Franklin had 11 points on just 2-of-7 shooting.
Poudre 12 8 11 20 – 51
Aurora Central 14 15 14 16 – 59
Poudre – Fulgencio 2 0-0 4, Crenshaw 7 5-7 20, Roberts 0 0-1 0, Shaw 4 0-0 8, Elmore 5 1-2 13, Casey 0 0-0 0, Rodriguez 2 0-0 6, Casey 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 6-10 51.
Aurora Central – Cunningham 9 5-6 24, Franklin 2 6-11 11, Mabin 2 2-2 6, Kelly 4 2-5 10, Goyer 0 0-0 0, Bond 0 0-0 0, Veasley 3 2-4 8. Totals 20 17-28 59.
3-pt. goals – Elmore 2, Rodriguez 2, Crenshaw; Cunningham, Franklin. Total fouls – Poudre 16; Aurora Central 20. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
