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Eaglecrest Victorious in 5A Championship Over George Washington

March 12, 2017 bballco 5A

Eaglecrest Victorious in 5A Championship Over George Washington

3/10/17

Denver, CO –  It took all 32 minutes for the Eaglecrest Raptors to defeat the George Washington Patriots for the 5A State Championship. Neither of the teams were exactly fresh after their draining semi-final games the night before.  However, both teams leaned on their defenses which had been George Washington and Eaglecrest’s strength the entire year to create a physical grinding championship game.

The first quarter started off with both teams trying to find their legs from the night before. Both teams turned the ball over early but the turnovers did not result in points at first.  Eaglecrest got the low scoring first quarter started after Colbey Ross grabbed a rebound and made a long pass to Ikenna Ozor for the bucket. George got on the board with a Jervay Green free throw.  Green put the Patriots ahead with back to back steals and layups. GW held a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

There has always been something about the second quarter for the Raptors all season where they have seemingly struggled to score.  Credit the Patriot defense as well making it tough for Eaglecrest to get a bucket.

Eaglecrest didn’t exactly let George Washington have free reign on the offensive end of the floor either. However, GW was able to take advantage on the boards and a breakdown on defensive assignments to extend their lead 16-7 midway through the second quarter.

Eaglecrest answered back and narrowed the score to 20-16 just before halftime but this assist from Calvin Fugett to Mo Diallo gave GW the 22-16 lead going into the locker room.

But after Eaglecrest got down nine points just after the started of the third quarter that is when it clicked for the Raptors. The Raptors answered with a 17 -7 run. Victor Garnes scored six points and Ross added another six as well. Green had seemingly swung the momentum back to the Patriots after a drive and layup. But the Raptors gained the lead with this 3-pointer from Ross at the end of the quarter to go up 33-32.

Eaglecrest took full advantage of GW turnovers and started the fourth quarter by buliding a 42-32 lead.  But GW answered as senior forward Shaheem Speer scored five straight points and cut the Raptors lead in half. From that point on both teams traded tunovers, buckets, and fouls.  It would come down again to free throw shooting for Eaglecrest. Ross did his part making four in a row to give the Raptors some room. GW would attack the basket but charging fouls or turnovers kept the Patriots from making closing in further. After Garnes hit 1 of 2 free throws Shawn’trell White made a steal from Ross that cut lead  with 16.1 left in the game.

 

Eaglecrest took full advantage of GW turnovers and started the fourth quarter by buliding a 42-32 lead. But GW answered as senior forward Shaheem Speer scored five straight points and cut the Raptors lead in half. From that point on both teams traded tunovers, buckets, and fouls. It would come down again to free throw shooting for Eaglecrest. Ross did his part making four in a row to give the Raptors some room. GW would attack the basket but charging fouls or turnovers kept the Patriots from making closing in further. After Garnes hit 1 of 2 free throws Shawn’trell White made a steal from Ross that cut lead with 16.1 left in the game.

 

[fvplayer src=”https://basketballcolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IMG_8442.mov” width=”1920″ height=”1080″]

But the Raptors on the ensuing inbounds play got the ball to Forsberg that passed it up to Walton for the game sealing layup.

 

Here is Josh Walton sealing the game for eaglecrest @raptorathletics @ScoreBreak #copreps pic.twitter.com/va8i7v4e3Z

 

— BasketballColorado (@Bball_CO) March 12, 2017

 

Eaglecrest’s title caps of an impressive run and accolades for retiring Coach John Olander 2 titles and one runner up  in 5 years, four stright great eights, and three straight final fours.

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