AURORA — Michaela Onyenwere went off for 26 points and 12 rebounds as No. 3 Grandview girls basketball beat Cherokee Trail 51-40 in a Class 5A game on Thursday.
Grandview is now 10-0. The Wolves also got seven points and eight rebounds from Alisha Davis, a freshman, in the win.
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[dropcap]D[/dropcap]anny Fisher is an Aurora guy. From his playing days at Hinkley, helping to lead the Thunderbirds to their first state title in hoops in 1994 during his senior year, to now being the head coach of the Overland Trailblazers, Fisher knows what basketball means in that city. So when the opportunity came to coach the Trailblazers, he jumped at the chance.
Just as he had helped to inspire Hinkley’s run of success in the 1990’s, three state championship appearances and two titles, Fisher hoped to build another Aurora school into a powerhouse.
And who better to build a program around than De’Ron Davis?
Davis was a freshman then, a 6-foot-9 and 240-pound forward considered one of the nation’s elite players for his age, during Fisher’s first season at Overland. Davis joined forces with childhood friends like Jervae Robinson, Reggie Gibson and Tyler Stevenson, fellow first-year standouts, not to mention talented sophomores like Austin Conway and Ryan Swan.
The seeds were planted. The goals were set.
“They brought a lot of high expectations, but their presence coming into the building, even as freshmen, brought a new wave, a breath of fresh air and something for people to look forward to,” Fisher said.
“We came in thinking four state championships, undefeated all four years, some crazy stuff,” Davis added with a laugh. “But when we played that first game and saw how fast it was, we really had to set back our goals. After that final four game when we lost to (Denver) East (in 2013-14), we knew we were going to do something special, though.”
During Davis’ freshman season, Overland was one of the youngest teams in the state, but still finished with a 15-10 record. ThunderRidge ended their season in the second round of the Class 5A state tournament.
In his sophomore year, they upped the ante and won the stacked Centennial League, posted a 20-7 record and reached the 5A semifinals.
Then, with Davis and Gibson in their junior seasons, Conway and Swan in their final high school campaigns, the Trailblazers roared to the 5A state championship by going through Denver East in the semifinals and ThunderRidge in the finals.
Now Overland carries the label of defending state champions. And, among all the talented players in recent years at the school with D-I recruits like Conway (Wyoming) and Swan (Air Force), none have stood taller — literally or figuratively — than the 6-foot-10 power forward.
“If there’s such a thing as a backbone, he is the backbone of this program,” Fisher said. “I think as the years pass he’ll be looked at as the backbone of Overland basketball. Hopefully he’ll go on and do what we all think he’s capable of doing with basketball as a career and it’ll make his impact here that much stronger and that much more visible.”
One of the most highly touted players in Colorado history, Davis is ranked as the No. 33 prospect in the nation in the 2016 class by Rivals.com. ESPN has Davis at No. 47. 247sports.com has him No. 38.
With offers from high-major programs from all around the country, not to mention invites to numerous all-star camps over the years, Davis signed with Indiana in November. But before taking his talents to the Big Ten, he’s writing his final chapter in a storied career at Overland.
Just as they did a season ago, Davis and his teammates are experiencing some adversity, though.
After winning the prestigious Platinum Division at the annual Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas, going 4-0 in the tournament, and rising to No. 7 nationally in the MaxPreps computer rankings, the Trailblazers lost at Regis Jesuit 66-60 on January 5.
Then, without the services of Davis, who picked up two technical fouls in a blowout win over Mullen, Overland lost to Centennial League rival Eaglecrest 57-45 on January 8. Interestingly enough, last year this team also lost to Regis to start the season and, a little later, was taken out by Eaglecrest when Davis was nursing a minor injury.
“It’s these adverse moments that kind of get us to where we want to be, I’m hoping,” Fisher said. “I wish we didn’t have to struggle like that to get there, but unfortunately sometimes that’s the journey.”
Overland, after holding firm as the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the 5A poll throughout the early part of the season, dropped to No. 4 behind Rangeview, Eaglecrest and Regis Jesuit this week. The Trailblazers have a 9-2 record.
With a slightly different team from last year, Robinson and Stevenson are back after attending a school in Oklahoma for their junior seasons, Overland is still figuring out their roles and developing chemistry with this group.
They once again feature as much or more talent as anyone, but every year is still a process. Of course, they can rely on their backbone the rest of the way. Davis is averaging 15 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.5 blocks, shooting 55 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free throw line. He has a chance at breaking the Colorado record for most career blocks and will likely climb into the top-10 on the career list for rebounds.
Fisher thinks Davis has a chance at making this a career at the highest level.
“Honestly he has an opportunity to go to the Big Ten and be an impact player immediately,” Fisher said. “In terms of ability, understanding, build and makeup, I think the sky is the limit. He could be the next big-time pro to come out of here.
“I think he’s going to have a hell of a challenge going into Bloomington next year and trying to compete for a starting job and be an impact player, but I think that’s something that’s realistically in reach. After that it’s just a matter of how much you want to make this work for you.”
Denver North’s Al Rodriguez resigned his position as the school’s head football coach on Wednesday.
Rodriguez, a 1989 graduate of the school, had been the head coach since 2011. His teams were 13-35 in five seasons, including 3-6 in 2015.
The school announced the change in a press release.
“I believe that this decision is in the best interest for my family and the North High football family,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “The Viking community is truly a family and I’m extremely thankful for all of the great people I’ve been fortunate to work with over the years. The future is bright for the North Vikings on and off the field.”
Prior to becoming head coach at Denver North, Rodriguez was the program’s wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator.
“We truly appreciate all of coach Rodriguez’s efforts with the football program over the past five years in his position as head coach,” North athletic director Kevin Bendjy said in a statement. “He’s been a tremendous asset and role model for our scholar athletes and model representative of Denver North High School in the community.”
Follow all of this offseason’s coaching movement in our tracker.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE – Cherry Creek improved to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in Centennial League play after topping Mullen 64-43 Wednesday night.
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PUEBLO — For a game of enormous size in terms of implications and attendance, a high school gym just wasn’t going to cut it. That’s why Pueblo South and Pueblo Central took to Massari Arena at Colorado State University-Pueblo for a heavyweight league showdown.
And it was behind Isiah Pannunzio’s 26 points that the Colts (10-0 overall, 2-0 4A South Central) cruised to a 79-51 win, solidifying their spot as a top team in the state.
“These kids have all grown up around each other and it’s a great rivalry,” South coach D.J. Johnson said. “Sometimes rivalries like this bring out the best in your team and sometimes the kids step up and play a little more inspired.”
And that certainly was the case. Coming into the game, Pueblo Central (7-7, 0-1) knew that in order to compete they had to take away South’s inside game. That proved to be easier said than done as Pannunzio dominated the post and got good support from Maleek Johnson who added 14 points in the winning effort.
“We knew coming in that we had to get the ball inside because they’re a small team,” Pannunzio said. “I just crashed the boards hard and had to post up hard to get the ball inside.”
The offense was never really the challenge for the Colts. Johnson knew that in order to come away with the win, he was going to have to figure out a way to limit the damage that Wildcat senior Mike Ranson could inflict.
Ranson came into the contest averaging 36 points per game and was more than capable of putting his team on his back and carrying them to a win.
“We talked about it for three or four days as a staff, figuring out how we wanted to approach him,” Johnson said. “He’s such a dynamic player and we came to the conclusion that the best way to defend him was to try and double-team him and get the ball out of his hands as much as we can.”
The plan paid off. Although Ranson came away with 26 points of his own, it was a very quiet 26. He only knocked down four 3-pointers and became visibly frustrated as his shots wouldn’t fall down.
“You have to run an offense and you have to do things to get other people involved,” Wildcats coach Brad Ranson said. “If he’s not hitting, we’re no good.”
The Wildcats came into the season with the highest of expectations, but suffered a crippling blow early with the loss of Kobi Betts to a torn ACL.
Since then, Central has been the victim of several more losses than they were anticipating. They thought they would be on the same level as the Colts who currently sit at No. 2 in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com basketball rankings.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Ranson said. “Like tonight, we should’ve played with them. They’re not much better than us. Tonight they were better and they just wanted it more than us.”
Ranson and the Wildcats will get another chance to show that they’re every bit as good as the Colts when the two teams square off again on Feb. 5.
AURORA — Rangeview, newly minted as the No. 1 team in the Class 5A boys basketball rankings, displayed firepower Tuesday that showed they could have staying power.
During a 60-52 road win at perennially tough Regis Jesuit in an all-Aurora showdown, the Raiders took advantage of dynamic team speed and depth in a game they controlled most of the way. They remained undefeated at 10-0.
After Regis, the No. 3 team in the poll, held early leads of 6-1 and 10-6, Rangeview came to life in a hurry as junior guard Elijah Blake hit two 3-pointers, helping to give his team an 18-14 lead at the end of one.
Then, seven Rangeview players scored in the second as they broke the game open and built a 37-23 lead at the half. Blake had 11 points in the first two quarters.
The No. 1 team had a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter, but Regis cut the deficit to only six when Marc Reininger, a 6-foot-9 senior, had a three-point play with 4:58 to go. In the end, despite good fourth quarters by Reininger and sophomore guard Elijah Martinez, Rangeview wouldn’t be denied.
The closest Regis got was five, before Tyrei Randall’s crazy athletic finish in traffic with 1:15 left, provided the finishing touches on a resume-building win.
“Obviously it was a big win,” Rangeview coach Shawn Palmer said. “There’s no overstating that. It’s big for two reasons. Anytime you beat Regis, what they’ve been the last eight years is phenomenal, and so some of that excitement is the respect we have as a school for them.
“The other part is that this team is being embraced. Our school loves this team, our community loves this team and I love this team, because they are a bunch of hard working kids. They are in it for each other. They embraced this moment tonight and they played well.”
On an evening in which ten players got minutes for Rangeview, everyone who got in seemed to contribute.
Blake led the way with 14 points, Elijah Reed had 11 and Randall finished with 10. Kris Hollins chipped in eight and Matthew Johnson, coming off the bench, also had eight. Calvin Collins, another non-starter against Regis, made sure there was no drop-off when starters came out as he chipped in seven points.
“We are very unselfish,” Blake said. “Some nights it’s going to be EJ (Reed), some nights it’s going to be Tyrei, some nights it’s going to be Jalen (Guidry). We’re 100 percent ok with that. We have each other’s back.”
Depth also showed on defense.
“I think we come at teams in waves,” Palmer said. “When the guys come in, there’s no step back. We’ve played ten or more all year. Stacie Reed and Marquis Kraemer came in and did a great job defensively. Marquis can guard anybody. Stacie just banged a little bit and picked up some nice defensive rebounds for us. We don’t take steps backwards when we go to that bench. That’s an asset.”
Reininger led a Regis team, who came away with one of the season’s best wins last week over Overland, with 15 points. Martinez had 14 and Connor Hobbs finished with eight.
Ken Shaw’s team made some big shots late, but were bothered by the speed of Rangeview, both defensively on dribble penetration and offensively with the turnovers Rangeview created. Regis dropped to 8-2 on the season. They host Castle View in a Continental League opener on Friday.
Blake, who not only scored but found his teammates with great vision, says Rangeview will continue to play hungry.
“We can’t be content with where we are at right now,” he said. “Our ultimate goal isn’t to be No. 1 in the regular season. We want a state championship.”
Rangeview, after three consecutive wins over top-10 teams ThunderRidge, Cherokee Trail and Regis, hosts George Washington on Friday.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Ninth-ranked Doherty boys basketball beat Rampart 60-49 in a Class 5A game on Tuesday.
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AURORA — Top-ranked Rangeview beat No. 3 Regis Jesuit on its home court on Tuesday, 60-52.
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BROOMFIELD — Fourth-ranked Broomfield jumped out to a 54-28 lead after three quarters, then rolled to a 61-48 victory over No. 8 Rocky Mountain on Tuesday.
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DENVER — Denver East, ranked No. 10 in the latest hockey poll, beat Kent Denver 8-1 on Tuesday.
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