|
Dai'Vante
Collins scores 33 during Manual's dominant win over West
(01/17/12)
by MARTY CESARIO
Colorado
High School Boys Basketball : Class 3A
Manual High School,
Denver, Colorado
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The
Powder Blue Panther! Don't know if he likes it. But his coaches do. So
he's gonna have to deal with us old dogs having some fun with it. It comes
with respect, though.
Dai'Vante Collins was smooth,
efficient, and athletic in the way he looked and the way he played -- like
a new millenium Alex English. Thus, the tag. Again, out of
respect. The Manual senior caught my attention and certainly
some intrigue from our cable television audience as he scored 33 points
and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead his Thunderbolts squad to a comfortable,
89-60, victory over West High.
Collins is Manual's
most productive player. With so much promise, too. Seeing him
play in person made that more obvious. The handful of JUCO programs
looking at him must have good recruiting instincts. If those schools
get a copy of this broadcast, one or more of them may want to
start getting aggressive about landing a commitment from the 6'4"
senior.
Tonight at the Thunderdome, the
defensive match-ups applied by his opponents allowed
Collins to showcase his talents working through the lane and along
the baseline. His effortless moves around the basket made it clear from
the tip that the Thunderbolts were going to have a good night offensively.
Collins and his hustling frontcourt mate, senior Khalid
Shareef, quickly established a lead for Manual with repeated
makes in the paint. (Shareef recorded 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 4
steals.) An 11-point explosion to finish the 1st quarter included a trio
of 3-pointers dropped within a sixty second span by seniors Myles
Mack-Lynch, David Dunehew, and a very talented
and versatile, Rosalio Pimentell. The Thunderbolts
were up 14 points after one quarter of play and increased that advantage
to 37-19 in the 2nd as Pimentell began running the offense and
sending pretty feeds to Collins and Shareef.
West was enjoying some success causing havoc in open
space, though. The determined efforts and quick hands of captains,
Jarvez Tryels and Miguel Cordova,
created quite a few turnovers -- many leading to breaking
lay-ups. And late in the 2nd, the Cowboys started hitting deep shots,
too. Just before the halftime break, sophomore reserves,
Daniel Gonzales and Jason Martinez, each
splashed their 2nd 3-point shots of the game to cut their deficit down to
eight, 43-35.
During our halftime segment, I called for
Manual to take better care of the basketball and get back to what had been
good to them -- moves to the rim for short field goals or easy
put-backs. They got that done. But first, Pimentell wanted to work on his
outside game. Rosalio opened the 2nd half with a pair of 3-point
bombs to spark a 15-2 run to spread his squad's lead to 58-37.
(Pimentell hit four 3-pointers and totalled 21 points.) From there on, I
was all about about tracking Collins' point total. I hadn't seen a
30-point effort during a varsity broadcast in a while. And after
all -- as I often joke -- a little bit of this is about my personal
entertainment.
Collins gave me -- and everybody else -- the 30. He
also gave us a running stuff after a steal early in the 4th quarter.
Thanks for that, too, Dai'Vante!
So Manual is on my radar. No
doubt 3A Metropolitan League teams have also raised their level
of awareness about the Thunderbolts. They've got some players --
most notably, that core threesome of Collins, Pimentell, and Shareef. If
they weren't forced to forfeit their first seven games because
of "a thing" involving paperwork for a transfer, they
might be earning more widespread public attention. (Remember?
This used to be a formidable city program. And it was forced
into hibernation a few years back when the school was shut down.
Those facts would add to the story.) As Coach Tommy
Verner and his staff like to remind their kids, they have yet to
be beaten on the floor this season. He's hoping his
players will embrace that proud
perspective and confidently approach league play... which
begins... now.
Denver
West (4-7, 0-0) 16
19 10 15 60
Manual (2-7,
2-1)
30 13 21 25
89
DWC:
MT: Collins 33, Pimentell 21, Shariff
16
Individual statistics, team stats, and clock
stamps unofficial.
Go to "CET Sports" on Facebook for posts
and pics of this game.
Feedback via e-mail to: contactus@ispn.tv or marty@ispn.tv |
