Overland Takes Down Defending Champ East – Advance to Finals
By Matt Langley
www.BasketballColorado.com
3/13/2015
Boulder, CO – The Overland Trailblazers advanced to the 5A state championship by defeating defending champ Denver East Friday night at the Coors Events Center in Boulder. The Trailblazers relied heavily on its interior defense and its interior scoring punch from junior DeRon Davis and senior Ryan Swan. Davis and Swan made it extremely difficult for East to score in the paint and frustrated East senior guard Brian Carey. Carey was funneled to the paint to shoot over the 6’9 Davis meanwhile Swan and senior King Grant Perry collected the misses.
East held the lead at the end of the first quarter 13-10. Seniors Jordan Willis and Ben Potts combined for 8 of East’s 13 points. East caught a break mid way through quarter as Davis collected his 2nd foul. That open up things a bit for Willis and Potts. Everything was going how Overland it though. Carey was being forced to shoot over Davis also being forced to take difficult to make shots. Overland erupted with a 24 point 2nd quarter with Overlnad grabbing 10 offensive rebounds. Overland began to pull away at the end of the 2nd quarter taking a 35-27 lead into half time.
East struggled defensively as most teams do versus Overland interior presence. Davis scored eight point and grabbed five rebounds in the third quarter. Jack Buckmelter started matching Davis shot for shot in one stretch confidently attacking the paint. Buckmleter scored eight points in the quarter and Potts added 5 but Overland scored 20. Overland took a 55-46 after three quarters.
Overland defensive pressure and offensive pace took the legs out of the Angels. East was only able to score 6 points in the finals quarter while Overland scored 17 most scored by Austin Conway, Davis and Swan. Both coaches pulled the starters with Overland lead by 16 with about 3:00 left in the game. There wasn’t much of a celebration from the Trailblazer bench as time ran out, they acted like the mission wasn’t over yet. They will take on ThunderRidge tonight at 7:00 for the 5A state championship. 
