Cherokee Trail Takes Out East

By Matt Langley

www.BasketballColorado.com

12/09/2014

Aurora, CO – It was only a matter of time. One day it would happen. At some point in time a team from inside the state of Colorado would defeat Denver East.  It was March 16, 2013 the last time Denver East had been beaten by a Colorado high school team. Cherokee Trail can proudly say they are the ones that snapped the streak. The  Cougars defeated the Angels 67-54 at Cherokee Trail High School Tuesday night. Even though East point guard Brian Carey had a career high 37 points,  it wasn’t a match for the well rounded but at times sloppy game played by the Cougars.

It was rough going for both teams early in the game. Fouls and turnovers were the name of the game  and for a chunk of time there was more fouls than points on the scoreboard in the first quarter.  Juniors David Thornton and Ronnie Barfield combined for 10 of the Cougars  13 points in the quarter. Meanwhile Carey had all seven of Easts points in the quarter, mainly because he was the only one that could get a shot to drop. The Angles missed a number of shots in the paint and Thornton ruled the defensive boards for the Cougars. Trail led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Carey nailed a three and senior Jordan Willis scored a bucket for East to close the gap 13-12 with  in the first minute of the second quarter.  However for Trail it was the 3 point shooting of senior Drequez Harvey that put space between the Cougars and Angles in the second quarter. Harvey went on his own scoring outburst with all eight of his points in the game coming in a 2 minutes span that put the Cougars up 21-12. As it looked liked the Cougars were about to pounce and put the game away, they got careless with the ball and Carey scored seven of East’s eight point of the quarter to close the gap at half time 27-22.

The Cougars extended their lead to 15 points in the third quarter behind the solid play of Thornton, Barfield , sophomore guard Jaizec Lottie and senior guard Izaiah Lottie. But sloppiness crept back into the Cougars game and Carey heated up again for the Angels and cut the Cougar lead to fine point with a little more than 3:00 to play in the 3rd. However a turn over and lay and a 3 pointer from junior guard Ammon Johnson put the Cougars back up 10. Trail took a 44-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Angels never seriously challenge for the lead in the final frame. The Cougars kept the Angles at bay by  getting into transition and getting easy buckets. East could never get a stop it needed on the defensive end of the floor in the fourth quarter. The Cougars behind the excellent play of Lottie at the guard spot and Thornton who scored 11 of his 19 points in the quarter  and ruled the paint thwarted any Angel comeback.

Cherokee Trail next takes the floor on December 12 at Highlands Ranch, meanwhile East turns around tomorrow to play Cherry Creek at the Pepsi Center.

Double Figure Scorers

East – Carey 37

Trail – Barfield 14 and Thornton 19 and 10 rebounds