Betcha didn’t see that one coming.
After making quite the impression last year as a sophomore, Overland junior De’Ron Davis took the court with his No. 1-ranked Trailblazers for the first time last night. But things didn’t exactly go as planned.
Davis finished the game with 22 points, but it was his five fouls that played a bigger part in his team’s undoing. Regis Jesuit — the No. 2-ranked 5A team in the state — pulled out the upset and knocked off the top-ranked Trailblazers 61-45 Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, across town, it was the Regis Jesuit girls who shared the same fate as Overland. After starting their season with a 67-59 win over D’Evelyn, the Lady Raiders were upset on their home floor by Monarch, which is sitting just on the outside of 5A’s top 10.
Just like we drew it up.
With the departure of Dom Collier and Ronnie Harrell from Denver East, it only made sense that Overland was the team to beat on the boys’ side. Davis is considered to be one of the top recruits in the state and showed flashes of dominance in his sophomore year. I’ll even admit that in the waning days of last year’s state basketball tournament, a colleague and I pondered just how successful the Trailblazers would be.
Neither of us dreamed that they’d start 0-1.
Oops.
“It was a great win. Not a great game, but a great win first game out,” Regis head coach Ken Shaw told CHSAANow writer Zach Marburger after the game. “We competed hard. They’re hard to look good against.”
You could certainly make the argument that they looked better than good. This wasn’t a case in which the Raiders made a run after Davis had fouled out of the game. In fact, Regis held a comfortable 11-point lead at the time Davis was forced out of the game.
The Lady Raiders’ woes nearly mirrored those of the Trailblazers. Senior Diani Akigbogun is gone, but there was no doubt Regis was the the state’s top team last season. By all accounts they should’ve started quick out of the gate as they began the defense of their 2014 state title. After keeping the game close for most of the game, the Raiders found themselves on the bad end of a 13-1 run.
And with that, the Raiders have already lost more games to in-state opponents than they did all of last year.
Call it early season jitters or whatever you would like, but the two 5A teams that were regarded as the class of the state fell early.
The Regis girls and the Overland boys could easily bounce back and live up to their early-season billing. But right now, we just don’t know.
What we do know is that both of those teams can be beaten, and everyone in the state knows it.
Buckle up, kids. Basketball season is going to be a roller coaster ride.
