Team Aurora Makes It Two in a Row Over Team Denver at Joint Effort
4/12/2018
This was the play of the closely contested game between Team Aurora and Team Denver at the Joint Effort Hoops Fest on Thursday night. As Overland senior Goy Wang took off one foot while driving down the lane and rose above the rim, a sense of anticipation quickly came across the crowd at Manual’s Thunderdome as East senior Daylen Kountz was going to challenge Wang in mid air. Wang flushed the one handed dunk home sparking a double digit run by Team Aurora late in the fourth quarter to give Team Aurora the 83-72 victory over team Denver.
Except for a cold shooting third quarter the game itself was well played with both teams playing some defense. Neither team was able to build a double digit lead through out the game until Team Aurora did at the end of the game when Cherokee Trail senior Deon Barfield got a tip in off a missed shot. Team Aurora was led by Overland senior guard Daijon Smith and Wang. Smith was hot the first half scoring at least 15 points and finished with over 20. Wang was a late addition to the Aurora roster as a couple of players were not able to attend. That didn’t seem to matter to Wang though as he balled out. He had nice finishes in traffic, hit a couple of jumpers and clutch three. Wang went to work on defense as well getting a couple of grown man blocks. Grandview senior Ben Boon had at least five three pointers on the night including some much need scoring in the third quarter.
It wasnt’ all bad for Team Denver, they led for most of the first quarter behind seven points from Kountz and and another 6 points from Montbello senior Sindou Cisse. Kountz had a good game and was very efficient from the field finishing with at least 25 points. Cisse finished in double digits as well and Jon’il Fugett hit some nice rhythm shots and had some nice finishes in traffic for Team Denver.
The win for Team Aurora makes it two in a row over Team Denver.
Miners 16’s Defeat Billups 15’s
Christian Speller, Isiah Hayes and Luke O’Brien led the way for the Miners 16’s Elite over the Billups 15’s Elite headlined by Kendale Johnson. The Miners had too much size and skill as they pulled away in the fourth quarter. There were a couple of notable thing from the game. One, Christina Speller is getting more and more comfortable on the wing. Luke O’Brien has a great looking smooth shot and Kendale Johnson is a problem for opposing team and especially at the 15’s level.
