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| Carlton Hurst of Aurora Central dunks his first two points of the game |
Trojans Trip Up Raiders
By Matt Langley
LanlgeyScouting.blogspot.com
2/5/2013
Aurora, CO – The Aurora Central Trojans improved their record to 14-6 and 5-1 in the league with an exciting, albeit ugly, win over the Rangeview Raiders (14-4, 4-1) 56-53 at Rangeview High School Tuesday night. When things get ugly for Central, senior Carlton Hurst takes over, but this night the other Hurst, Leonard, made the biggest plays of the game clinching the win for the Trojans.
Turnovers and missed shots highlighted the first half of play between the Trojans and Raiders. The first quarter was fast paced with each team creating steals and then carelessly turning over the ball in their next possession. However, Rangeview jumped out to an 11-4 lead after back to back threes by junior Jeremiah Page and senior Larry Bridges. Central’s Carlton Hurst answered with 6 points of his own in the quarter to keep the Trojans within striking distance at the end of the quarter, 15-10.
The second quarter might have been the worst quarter of basketball for each team so far this season. Neither team was able to find any rhythm in the quarter. The two teams combined for over 25 turnovers and 10 fouls in the 8:00 quarter. Central was unable to take advantage of being in the bonus from the 5:30 mark by shooting only two free throws the rest of the quarter. Rangeview only made two baskets in the quarter, while leading scorer Paige was held scoreless. Central was able to score 10 points, half of those coming from senior Tyler Stephenson. The Trojans were able to pull ahead by half time, 20-19.
The scoring started to heat up, but the score remained close. After the first four minutes of the third quarter, Central clung to a 32-28 lead. Then Rangeview dug a hole for itself. With 2:10 remaining in the quarter Rangeview’s Dezant Burks was called for a foul on Hurst. However, Burks reaction drew a technical foul sending Hurst, a 74% free throw shooter to the line. Hurst sunk both free throws which began an 8-0 run for the Trojans as the third quarter drew to a close. Bridges cut the Trojan lead to single digits (40-32) scoring a lay up right before the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.
Paige, quickly scored four points to start the fourth quarter, but Central’s Stephenson answered with four points of his own to keep the lead at eight. Hurst’s basket gave the Trojans a 9 point lead with 5:45 left in the game and would be the last one for the Trojans for the next 4:00. During that time Rangeview’s trapping half-court defense forced Central guards into bad passes and turnovers. The Raiders got points from Paige, and junior Trey Bridges scored 5 points in the four minute stretch, but every time the Raiders made a dent in the lead, Hurst was fouled on the following possession sending him to the line, making 3 of 4 free throws. The Raiders down six points with 1:35 left scored seven straight points in 52 seconds, five by Trey Bridges including a three point play after being fouled on a lay up which give the Raiders a one point lead, 53-52, with 43 seconds left. Paige blocked a Carlton Hurst shot out of bounds with 32 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds play the shot was missed in the paint, but Leonard Hurst reached up and tipped the ball in giving the Trojans a 54-53 lead with 24 seconds left. Paige missed the next shot for Rangeview, and Central’s Marcus Triplet was fouled sending him to the line for two shots. The junior who had not been in the game since the first quarter calmly sunk both free throws. Paige got one more attempt to tie the game, but his three-point attempt was blocked by a flying Leonard Hurst to preserve the 56-53 win.
Carlton Hurst Lead all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Leonard had 8 points and 8 rebounds, and Stephenson added 13 and 7 rebounds. Rangeview was lead in scoring by Larry Bridges’ 18 points, Paige had 14, and Trey Bridges added 10 points. The win puts the Trojans in 1stplace in the East Metro Athletic Conference with three games left to be played. Their next three foes have a combined record of 13-44, but the Trojans do close the season with crosstown rival Gateway, which is always a tough game. If the Trojans can win the next three games, they will more than likely receive a four seed and first round bye in the state playoffs at the end of the month.