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Gregory goes
to the hole in OT to get Pueblo East to the Final Four
(03/05/10)
by MARTY CESARIO
This one started late, went an extra period, and wasn't finished
until 10:30pm. Few fans were bothered by that. The finale of the
Great 8 games held on the School of Mines campus in Golden was a
tense run 'til the end. Leads were swapped regularly. No lead grew
larger than five. Pueblo East tied it with 20 seconds left in
regulation. Then Broomfield had two shots within ten feet to win
it. Neither shot fell. Then junior Jordan Gregory
dominated the overtime period by scoring ten consecutive
points to lead Pueblo East to a 68-63 victory earning them a berth
in Class 4A's Final Four.
The Eagles of Broomfield got
the jump on the scoreboard with a three-pointer from senior Erik
Lockwood and couple of short jumpers from their skilled 6'6"
forward, Matt Perse. Strong offensive rebounding and
shot-blocking by 6'7" center, Mitch Secora, helped
the Eagles from Pueblo East weather that fast start
by their opponents before
a three-point shot from Gregory and a
circus scoop in traffic by athletic guard, Josh Sandoval,
pushed Pueblo East ahead by five points, 18-13, just before the end
of the opening quarter.
Broomfield has a killer trio
of front-court players. In the second quarter, Coach Terrance
Dunn had 'em throwing their weight around a whole lot more.
Guards consistently began to feed Perse and 6'7" center, Nick
Halliday, while 6'5" junior,
Dakota Smith, would regularly rotate in and offer great
impact as a rebounder and defender. With an active Perse cutting and
converting through the lane and Halliday scoring via pivots in
the post, Broomfield had impressively fought for a three point,
halftime lead at 33-30.
The see-saw rocked back the other
way as Gregory scored the first five points of the second
half on a 15 foot jumper and another three on consecutive
possessions. Broomfield countered quicky, though, and seemed to be
establishing a little bit of control as some of the
other blue-clad Eagles chipped in. Lockwood hit another three.
Reserve guard, Austin Wood, dropped in a running floater.
Broomfield created a five-point gap on the 'board, 48-43, when
Smith scored off a nice interior pass from Perse.
The rhythm
of the game was lost for a few minutes after a lengthy and
awkward pause before the beginning of the fourth
quarter. Both squads had to be called back to their benches as
officials and operators dealt with a scoreboard malfunction. It took
a full two minutes before either team could hit a bucket once play
resumed. Eventually, the the flow was reestablished and the
drama got heavier. A Sandoval steal led to another Gregory
three-pointer to tie the score at 54-54 with 2:50 left in
regulation. Broomfield retaliated by getting the ball back inside to
Halliday who sank a baby hook at 2:30. After a defensive stop on
the other end, Broomfield chose to burn time with their two point
lead. The decision to go small with their line-up in order to dribble away
time backfired when they were called for a carrying violation with
:47 on the clock. Pueblo East made 'em pay as Sandoval found Secora
knifing through the lane... tie score again at 56-56. Broomfield
immediately brought the ball up and called timeout with :19
left. The decision on the sideline... go to the big guy. And
Halliday got it. But his shot didn't fall. He out-battled the mob for
the rebound, though, and released another shot... too short. If
Broomfield wanted to upset the top seed in the Gibbs region
and earn a trip up to Boulder, they were now going to have to do
it in overtime. As you aware, that didn't happen.
Coach
Dave Ryder put down his marker board and went simple
in the overtime frame. He put the fate of his team in the hands
of his athletic and confident point guard. Credit Ryder for breaking
the game down to merely one guy exploiting
his opponent's most glaring weakness. And props to Gregory in
the way he embraced the burden and executed to
near-perfection. The kid was just too big and quick
to be denied penetration by less physically capable guards. That was
the weakness. Once he was deeper into the defense, he was too
strong to intimidated by contact near the basket. Twice Gregory was
fouled then hit both free throws. Twice he challenged the Broomfield
big men and somehow got the ball up and in. In a rare moment of
mortality, Gregory did miss the back end of a one-and-one
opportunity with :12 remaining. But Secora's rebound-and-pass in
one motion gave Gregory the ball again. He was quickly
fouled. Again... made the first... missed the second. At that point,
Gregory had scored all ten of Pueblo East's points to give the yellow
Eagles a 66-63 advantage. Still, Broomfield had :09 and
one last possession to possibly force another overtime. Good
defense forced a cross-court inbounds pass, though, which was picked off
by senior guard Mike Fabrizio. Done deal.
So
Pueblo East players and fans get to go home, celebrate a bit, prepare
more, fuel up and head back North for the Final Four weekend! They'll
play Longmont, the top seed out of the Shavlik region, on Thursday
night at the CU Events
Center.
Pueblo East (24-1, 13-1) 18 12 15
11 12 68
Broomfield (19-7,
12-2) 15 18 15 8
7 63
PEE: Gregory 28, Secora 13,
Fabrizio 10
BE: Perse 16, Halliday 15, Lockwood
15
Individual stats may
be unofficial. Feedback via e-mail to: contactus@ispn.tv or martycesario@hotmail.com
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