AURORA — Three days before Class 5A’s regular season ends and there appears to be two glaring aspects before heading into the 48-team bracket that is to be released Sunday.
First is what a wild finish Colorado’s big boys have produced. Look at all of the ranked teams that got knocked off in the past few days. Regis Jesuit. ThunderRidge. Denver East. Fossil Ridge. Monarch. Dakota Ridge. And it had been going on and on …
And, two, aren’t we back when we began the regular season with Overland as everyone’s preseason No. 1?
And aren’t the Trailblazers, if they handle Grandview on Friday night as expected to clinch the Centennial League, back as the team to beat?
On Wednesday night and a year after they had a wild five-overtime game, the Trailblazers were thorough in handling what had been a hot Cherokee Trail 73-60 at the Cougars’ Den.
Ranked No. 3 in the latest Associated Press 5A media poll, Overland improved to 17-5 overall 12-1 in the Centennial and may have further proved its point. Somewhat discarded after dropping its season opener to Regis Jesuit, the Trailblazers seem to be humming along nicely.
“I think we add our name to the pot of three,” Overland coach Danny Fisher said of his team along with Regis Jesuit and ThunderRidge for top seed. All three teams have two in-state losses. “It could go either way, they flip Regis and ThunderRidge or we could stay in third. … I’m anxious to see how they handle it.”
On Wednesday, the Trailblazers handled the Cougars (14-8, 9-4). Cherokee Trail was coming off a wild finish that led to a 46-45 eye-opening victory over Eaglecrest, but Overland grabbed the lead early, held it, expanded on it, then won going away.
Fisher said his team, leading by 10 points at halftime, never really felt in control to that point, but his group’s third quarter quickly decided it. Overland’s advantage grew to 24 points.
Indeed, everybody’s all-stater, De’Ron Davis, led the way, but other Blazers also are contributing at the right time. In the backcourt, point guard Reggie Gibson had 14 points and speedy Austin Conway added 12. Forward Ryan Swan was sound defending and rebounding, and he contributed another 13 points. And Allijah Halliburton added eight, six during the Trailblazers’ 21-12 run in the third.
But as most observers agree, the one player to have from this class is Davis, who scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked five shots and changed an array of others. Colorado’s rim-protector was at it again.
“I don’t know if we’ve had anyone like him,” Fisher said.
Davis, already high on so many college recruiters’ lists, allowed that his defense sparks his offense, his team is playing very well right now and members are enjoying it.
“Team just can’t focus on me,” Davis said. “My points come from defense, you know, getting the rebound, have outlets, block the shots … that’s where the points come from.
“We always feel like the top seed, but our main focus is to take care of business, take one game at a time and everything will take care of itself.”
Coach Morgan Gregory’s Cougars were headed by David Thornton’s 15 points.
Overland 19 14 21 19 — 73
Cherokee Trail 13 10 12 25 — 60
Overland — Gibson 4 4-9 14, Conway 4 4-7 12, Wang 0 0-0 0, Davis 7 7-8 21, Swan 6 0-0 13, A. Halliburton 4 0-0 6, B. Halliburton 0 0-0 0, Grant-Perry 0 3-4 3, Lucas 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 18-28 73.
Cherokee Trail — Sapp 2 0-0 5, J. Lottie 1 1-5 3, Thornton 5 2-2 15, Barfield 1 1-3 3, I. Lottie 2 0-0 6, Brandon 3 3-4 9, Scott 0 1-2 1, Harvey 2 1-3 7, Gilbert 2 0-0- 5, Johnson 2 0-0 4, Shannon 0 2-2 2. Totals 20 11-21 60.
3-pt. goals — Wang.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
