Carey Powers Denver East Past Rangeview For Elite 8 Bid

By Matt Langley

www.BasketballColorado.com

3/4/2015

Aurora, CO – Denver East senior point guard Brian Carey led all scorers with 35 points and 8 assists, as the Angels defeated the host Rangeview Raiders Wednesday night in the Sweet 16 of the 5A State Basketball Championship. Carey was simply the most dominate player on the court especially during the second quarter, meanwhile Elijah Blake the sophomore point guard from Rangeview made big play after big play to keep the Raiders in the game.

Rangeview used the energy from the capacity crowd to jump out early on the Angels 11-4. Senior forward Tarren Storey- Way had 6 of the 11 points off two and 1 plays under the basket. East shots started to fall as Carey worked his way into the teeth of the Raider dense and found an open Jack Buckmelter twice for 3’s and a put bad dunk by Ben Potts got the Angel crow on it’s feet. Rangeview however scored four points in the last minute of the quarter to grab a 23-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The already high pace of play increased in the second quarter as East poured in 29 points  while holding Rangeview to 15. Carey who simply could not be stopped  as he scored 11 points in the four minutes of the quarter  while Jordan Willis seemed to grab every rebound in sight. The 16-4 run by the Angels gave them a 34 -27 lead with 4:24 lead left in the quarter. Rangeview them made a mini push lead by five straight points from Blake the cut the Angels lead to 36-33 with 2:45 left. East answered with a 3 pointer from Buckmelter which was answered by another 3 pointer from Blake, which was answer by a 3 pointer from Carey in consecutive possessions. Willis and Potts combined for 6 points in the last minute including the buzzer beater by Potts below to give east a 48-38 lead at halftime.

After Blake scored his twelfth point of the game with a basket to start the third quarter the Raiders worked to cut the down the Angel lead. However the Angels maintained an eight to ten point lead through much of the quarter as Carey dished out assists and Deron Harrell scored five points in the quarter.  His last, gave East it’s largest lead of the game 60-46 with three minutes left in the quarter. Rangeview started its comeback and outscored the Angels 9-4 in the last 2:45 of the quarter to cut the Angel lead to 64-57 with this lay up at the buzzer by Kris Hollins.

The Angels attempted to put the game away early in the fourth quarter. With 7:05 left in the quarter Carey was fouled as he made a layup giving him one free throw but Rangeview was also called for a technical foul because a player displayed his displeasure with the call of the referee. Which also gave Carey two more free throws. Carey made two of the three free throws and then scored after East got the ball out of bounds which pushed the East lead to 70-57 with 6:30 left in the game. Rangeview answered  with a 10 -5 run over the next four minutes spurred by Randall’s five points. Blake then cut into the Angel lead more at the 1:57 mark with a old fashion three point play to make the score 75-73. The Angels made free throws over the last two minutes of the game which is something that they had struggled with in their last play off game.  Carey and Harrell combined for 5-6 from the free throw line to seal the win 85-75.

Angels will next face Regis in a rematch of an early season classic at the Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

Double Digit Scorers

Denver East

Carey 35

Willis 16 points and 15 rebounds

Harrell 13

Buckmelter 12

Rangeview

Blake 18

Randall 17

Storey-Way 16