For weeks, Ian Calvert has been telling his Aurora Central Trojans: “One more, one more . . .”
He gets to keep on telling that to the Trojans after Friday’s hard-fought 65-60 victory over Highlands Ranch in the Class 5A’s Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum.
Aurora Central will take a 20-6 record into Thursday’s final four at the University of Colorado in Boulder. It will be the Trojans’ first trip there in three seasons and comes after they turned in perhaps the surprise victory of the bracket Tuesday, a 69-65 win at Colorado Springs Metro League champion Fountain-Fort Carson.
“I’ve been telling them that they can do this,” Calvert said.
If they do, the Trojans can look back at their last eight quarters, notably the final seconds against the Falcons (21-5).
Once again, Aurora Central struggled at the free-throw line (14-of-25) and missed six attempts in the fourth quarter, but key offensive rebounds by 6-foot-7 DeSe Lee, who finished with a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds, and Auberee Prickett off missed free throws sealed it.
“They were large,” Calvert said.
Lee, who enjoyed an assortment of dunks, including a big one off a spin move in the lane down the stretch to finish a fast break, said he had confidence all game and realized he had to be ready while awaiting free-throw attempts.
“Getting both of those were big for us,” Lee said. “We had to keep the ball.”
The Trojans didn’t miss a beat when guard Joseph Abrams went out with an ankle problem on the final play of the third quarter or when Lee was benched by Calvert to keep him fresh and avoid any further foul trouble.
Actually, Calvert got a lot of mileage from everyone he sent into the game — Shawn Banks (14 points) and Abrams (11) provided additional scoring; Prickett, Carlton Hurst, Darren Sanders and Rashaud Russell did whatever was needed, including strong defense and rebounding.
For Highlands Ranch, a series of smart passing inside led to Marcus Byrd’s team-high 20 points. Fabian Sebastion also had moments inside on the way to 13 points, and Brett Olson (19) kept the Falcons relevant from the perimeter. Down the stretch, they also turned three turnovers into two baskets in about eight seconds but were narrowly out-scrapped.
However, said coach Bob Caton, the Trojans’ previous coach, “We didn’t get some loose balls that we needed to get, and it hurt not getting those rebounds off (the Trojans’) missed free throws.”
Calvert remains unsurprised: “I had an idea (about this). . . . We can be state champs. I really do believe that, and now it’s getting closer and closer.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
