East’s 11th consecutive Class 5A playoff victory was unanimously deemed sloppy and accompanied with the proverbial tag of the game not being as close as the final score indicated.
The two-time defending 5A boys basketball champion downed visiting Cherokee Trail 72-60 on Saturday afternoon in 5A’s second round, a victory against another talented, athletic opponent, one hungry throughout its first try in big-school play.
East improved to 20-4 and next meets Rampart — the Rams downed Littleton 64-37 on Saturday night — in the Sweet 16 that will be played at sites to be determined today by the Colorado High School Activities Association. The Angels probably lost style points down the stretch, after they held leads of more than 20 points only to have the Cougars climb within respectability.
But they will take it and move on.
“We just had a bunch of dumb mistakes, throwing the ball away, knocking it off a foot,” said senior guard Jace Davis, who paced East with 20 points. “We stop playing and teams catch us.
“We just need to clean up our stuff and we’ll be ready to go.”
Angels center DaVaughn Thornton concurred: “(The Cougars) were pretty athletic and were ready for us. They remind me of us with their speed, but we held on.”
Unexpectedly, East grabbed the early lead mainly through its perimeter game with seven 3-pointers among its first nine baskets. It was 12-6 after a quarter, 36-22 by halftime and the advantage grew into the fourth quarter.
Though Thornton was held to two baskets by the Cougars’ solid interior defense, Davis, Quentin Hildreth, Alex Merriex and Phillip Watts hit from long range. The East bulge crested at 26 points after Hildreth scored six consecutive points to begin the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Cherokee Trail, which finished 14-11, couldn’t slow the pace to its liking, got beat on the backboards, particularly on the offensive end, and lacked continuity from the perimeter. The Cougars also wilted a few times against East pressure and never got it going until the final minutes, when they cut their deficit to 10 points to make the Angels sweat.
“We knew it would be difficult, because East is so good defensively, but all in all, it was a good year,” first-year Cherokee Trail coach Shawn Dirden said. “It took the kids a while to get used to me and me to them, but I think it will pay off in the long run.”
Hildreth added 16 points for East and Thornton scored 12.
Cherokee Trail was paced by Temani Adams’ 20 points.
Cherokee Trail 6 16 14 24 — 60
East 12 24 17 19 — 72
Cherokee Trail — Adams 7 6-8 20, Green 0 1-2 1, Evans 4 0-0 11, Gillis 4 1-2 9, Currington 0 0-0 0, Gregory- McGhee 4 3-3 11, Martin 1 0-2 2, Ramey 2 2-4 6, Turner 0 0-0 0, McCord 0 0-0 0, Hatcher 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 13-21 60.
East — Hildreth 4 6-6 16, Thornton 2 8-13 12, Wiese 2 1-1 5, Hardy 2 0-0 4, Moore 0 0-2 0, Merriex 2 0-0 6, Hilaire 1 0-0 2, Davis 7 2-2 20, Wolfel 0 2-2 2, Watts 1 2-2 5, Donahue 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 21-28 72.
3-point goals — Evans 3; Davis 4, Hildreth 2, Merriex 2, Watts. Total fouls — Cherokee Trail 22, East 21. Fouled out — Hildreth. Technicals — None.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
