It was nearly a bonus at the Denver Coliseum, two games in one, or it could have classified as tales of two different halves, before East gathered itself for a rematch against Doherty.
The Angels, the Denver Prep League champions of the regular season, ran away from Smoky Hill early, withstood a late run, then landed a 65-53 victory over the Buffaloes on Saturday in Class 5A’s Great 8.
East, the preseason No. 2 team in The Denver Post/9News poll, will take a 22-3 record into Thursday’s Final Four in Boulder against Doherty, the preseason No. 1 and the team the Angels were blown out by on the opening night of the season.
Centennial League champion Smoky Hill, which inexplicably scored only four points in the first quarter and trailed by more than 20 in the first half, ended 22-4.
It was different – East seemed to convert every shot it threw up while the Buffaloes made only three of their first 15 attempts, trailed 34-11 late in the first half and appeared doomed for a ho-hum exit from the tournament.
However, Smoky Hill scored the first eight points of the second half and eventually got within six with 3:42 remaining before East sealed it with free throws.
“We’ve been shooting a lot of basketballs in practice and knew we if we could get our confidence on this floor, you let them go,” East coach Rudy Carey said.
It was physical down the stretch, but order was kept.
“We tried to come out and let (the Buffs) know we could play, then it changed,” said senior guard Donell Wells, who led the Angels with 21 points. “But Coach (Carey) told us to keep our heads, then we did.”
Coach Ken Shaw could only watch his team struggle early: “We just weren’t sharp and we didn’t quit in the second half, but that’s just too big of a hill to climb. We didn’t have it at the start.”
Carey attributed some of his team’s second-half miscues, including 14 turnovers, to experimenting for the next round, “but we knew (the Buffs) had a run or two in them, and they did.”
East’s Jordan Martinez- Doublin (14 points, 12 rebounds) and Mookie Gilbert (14 points, eight rebounds) also generally limited the Buffs to one shot, and Blake Swain added 12 points.
Josh Cassaday’s 19 points paced Smoky Hill, but 16 came in the second half after a 1-of-9 first half. Sam Huebner and Leon Whittington added 10 points each.
East 14 20 14 17 – 65
Smoky Hill 4 10 24 15 – 53
East – Verner 0 2-4 2, Swain 5 1-2 12, Wells 5 8-12 21, Da. Thornton 0 0-0 0, Gilbert 7 0-0 14, Martinez-Doublin 4 8-11 16, De. Thornton 0 0-0 0, Hildreth 0 0-0 0, Molock 0 0-0 0, Ross 0 0-0 0, Brooks 0 0-0 0, Weiss 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 19-29 65.
Smoky Hill – Agyei 0 0-0 0, May 3 0-0 7, Ross 1 0-0 2, Cassaday 7 3-4 19, Huebner 3 4-6 10, Whittington 4 2-3 10, Stroth 2 0-0 5, Perry 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 9-13 53.
3-point goals – Wells 3, Swain; Cassaday 2, May, Stroth. Total fouls – East 21, Smoky Hill23. Fouled out – May. Technicals – None.
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
