East Takes Care of Legend 58-45
By Matt Langley
BasketballColorado.com
3/15/2013
Boulder, CO- It was the tale of two halves for both the Denver East Angels and the Legend Titans Friday night, at the Coors Event Center during the 5A State Semifinals. At first Legend seemed to be doing everything right while East sputtered. After half time, however, the shoe was on the other foot—Legend went cold from the field, and East warmed up to take the 58-45 victory and a place in tomorrow’s finals.
Denver East jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, but Legend would rally back to tie the score at 12 with a three-pointer from Tyler Willis. Legend scored again before the end of the quarter to take the lead 14-12. Legend was able to extend its lead after Elijah Cherryington had a five point outburst to make the score 24-19. But East was able to regain the lead after a Brian Carey three-pointer, 26-24. Legend’s Jon Cosmann tied the score at 26. Neither was able to score in the last minute, and the teams went into half-time tied at 26. The first half was not kind to the Angels. They missed shots in the paint and had seven turnovers in the half. Meanwhile, Legend was shooting 57% from the three-point line and 47 % from the field overall.
The third quarter is where East made its move. East’s pressure defense caused turnovers and rushed shots. Legend could not get comfortable shooting the ball in the second half. Legend was 1 of 9 from three-point land and 9 of 28 overall from the field in the second half. Legend was only able to score 19 total points in the second half. East on other hand was taking better shots and getting better results than in the first half. East shot over 50% from the field. Cherryington hit a shot at the 3rd quarter buzzer cutting the East lead to 9, 46-37, but as the 4th quarter began Tyre Robinson scored and pushed the lead back to double figures. East would maintain an 11 to 9 point lead the rest of the quarter. East did have a scary moment when Dom Collier chipped his tooth after falling to the ground. But Collier was back in the game in moments and scored a steal and lay-up.
Legend had two players in double figures: Cherryington had 11, and Taylor Jenson added 11 points as well. East had four players in double figures: Collier had 16, Ronnie Harrell had 14, Javon griffin had 12, and Robinson added 10 points. East will play Eaglecrest in the 5A State Championship game at 8:00 p.m. Saturday at the Coors Event Center.
