Is anyone having more fun in Class 5A than Overland’s Trailblazers?
Probably not.
The Trailblazers blitzed Mountain Vista in all areas in a 64-36 rout at the Denver Coliseum that will send them to their second consecutive final four. A year ago, they lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Denver East.
“It’s just a lot of fun right,” said Trailblazers point guard Reggie Gibson, who led Overland with 14 points and added six rebounds. “We’re enjoying it.”
They should be — the Trailblazers, now 21-6, were dominant from getting out on the break to cutting off passing lanes. They outrebounded Mountain Vista 51-35, beat it down the floor regularly and kept the clamps on Golden Eagles leading scorer Ray Beresford, who was 0-of-10 from the floor and managed only three points.
Mountain Vista coach Bob Wood was impressed.
“They’re just so hard to score against,” Wood said. “Ray’s usually good for at least 15 points.”
The Overland defense allowed the Golden Eagles only one quarter of double-figure scoring — they had 11 in the third.
“It all starts with defense,” Overland coach Danny Fisher said. “We’re hanging our hats on that right now. We’re really steady offensively, but defensively they’re really understanding what we want to do.”
Mountain Vista, which ended 20-7, shot only 13-of-57 (22.8 percent). Still, Wood said he was thrilled about getting a lot of mileage out of his guys down the stretch of the season and into the early postseason rounds. They had entered the bracket as a hot No. 2 seed.
“I thought we were looking at a No. 9 seed,” Wood said.
As for Overland, a No. 1 seed, Wyoming-bound and speedy guard Austin Conway added 12 points in regularly getting to the basket. Junior pivot De’Ron Davis was unusually quiet offensively, as he had only one point for much of the game, but he finished with seven to go with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Plus, as Fisher pointed out, if opposing teams get past pressure at midcourt by Conway and Gibson, they have to deal with Davis as well as the likes of Ryan Swan, Padet Wang and whichever other athlete Fisher inserts into the game.
“We’re excited,” Fisher said.
