Rangeview’s Fast Start Dooms Aurora Central
The visiting #1 Rangeview Raiders jumped out to a fast start against the host Aurora Central Trojans Tuesday night in a game that had EMAC championship implications. Even though the Trojans would eventually cut into the early 16 point lead to eight points at the end of the 2nd quarter the Raiders would rely on an 11-2 run at the beginning of the 4th quarter to end the Trojan threat.
The Raiders used an extended half court trapping zone defense to give the Trojans fits in the first quarter. The trap kept the ball out of the Trojans best ball handlers and main scorers hands. It did the trick as the Trojans committed multiple turnovers in a row that the Raiders turned into easy points. When the Raiders did have to run an offense they hit nearly every shot they took. Which lead to a 23-5 start by the end of the first quarter lead by senior guard Tyrei Randall.
The Trojans could have simply given up early in the second quarter after Elijah Blake stole the ball and made a layup to give the Raiders a 28-10 lead. The Trojans however seemed to snap our of their scoring funk when Elijah Coleman scored five points in arrow to cut the lead by to 13 points. The Raiders started to lose focus a bit and did not dominate the boards as much which lead to the Trojans getting buckets and fouls. If the Trojans would have shot better than 3 of 8 from the free throw line in the quarter they could have made an even bigger dent in the Raider lead. Senior wing Usman Koromah had a very good quarter for the Trojan scoring 7 of the Trojans 17 points in the quarter. The Raiders only managed to score 10 points in the quarter and went nearly scoreless in the last three minutes of the quarter if it wasn’t for a pair of Matt Johnson free throws with 4.5 seconds left to give the Raiders a 33-25 lead at halftime.
The Raiders went back to the zone trap in the third quarter which resulted in a 6-2 run finished by Rangeview senior Elijah Reed when he scored back to back buckets to put the Raiders back up by 12 points with five minutes to go in the quarter. The Raiders added to the lead but this dunk by Coleman cut the lead to 45-33 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The fourth quarter was all Raiders. Tyrei Randall scored 13 points in the quarter all off layups and free throws. The Trojans never threw the towel in though, they tried to mount a late charge and cut the lead to 13 after a basket by LaDarius Thomas with five minutes left but Rangeview ended the game on a 14-5 run.
With the win, Rangeview stays a top of the EMAC standings and is in the drivers seat for the league championship.
Double Digit Scorers
Rangeview
Tyrei Randall 23
Elijah Reed 13
Aurora Central
Elijah Coleman 15
LaDarius Thomas 16
Usman Koromah 10
