PARKER — By now, everyone’s in agreement: Class 5A boys basketball is fairly wide open, so let the shuffling continue. Two wild cards in the deck went at it Tuesday night, with Overland, a lot of folks’ preseason No. 1 team, outlasting host Chaparral 59-51 in a nonleague contest.
Coach Danny Fisher’s Trailblazers, now 5-4 after some out-of-state action, are ranked No. 6 in The Associated Press 5A media poll. And Chaparral (7-3) is No. 5, but who cares? There will be lots of movement into late February.
“There are a lot of good teams,” said Overland senior guard Austin Conway, one who would know — his team ravenously seeks the best competition, as do the Wolverines, who meet defending 5A state champion Denver East on Thursday.
But on this night, Conway made two huge offensive moves in the final two minutes. He got fouled and made two free throws, then challenged the heart of the Wolverines’ defense with a big-time move down the lane in which he scored and made a free throw.
“Coach said be aggressive, said we needed a couple of baskets there, so I was,” Conway said.
Overland also received stellar play late from guard Reggie Gibson, who added a basket and four free throws during the fourth quarter. And all-state junior center De’Ron Davis had a team-high 17 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Jake Holtzmann and Chris Moody combined for 35 points, but Chaparral shot 2-of-15 to start the second half.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
Overland (5-4): 17 16 11 15 — 59
Chaparral (7-3): 11 21 6 13 — 51
Overland — Gibson 4 4-5 12, Conway 3 4-5 10, Wang 3 0-0 8, Davis 7 2-4 17, Swan 4 0-0 8, Yousef 0 0-0 0, Grant-Perry 1 0-0 2, Halliburton 1 0-2 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 10-16 59.
Chaparral — Sheaman 2 1-2 5, WIlson 0 0-0 0, C. Moody 6 3-4 15, Holtzmann 8 3-3 20, Coon 2 6-6 11, Lehman 0 0-0 0, P. Moody 0 0-0 0, Lane 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13-15 51.
3-pt. goals — Wang 2, Davis; Coon, Holtzmann. Fouled Out — Wilson.
