Overland Reigns Over Regis
By Matt Langley
Langleyscouting.blogspot.com
12/11/2012
Aurora, CO – Coaches from Gonzaga, San Francisco, Colorado, Colorado State, Wake Forest and Denver where all on hand Tuesday night at Overland High School to see Regis’ Junior guard Josh Perkins, but it was two sport star sophomore Austin Conway that led Overland to a 80-66 victory over Regis Jesuit. The ultra quick point guard used his speed and quickness to overwhelm the Raiders defense and cause havoc on the Raiders offense by cutting off passes and using his fast hands to create turnovers.
The Trailblazers jumped out to an early 9-0 lead; however, the Raiders would snap out of their early funk with a three pointer from the highly regarded Perkins. The Raiders fought to close the lead to 21-18 at the end of the 1stquarter behind the shooting of Junior guard Devin Kadillak and seven points from Perkins.
Overland got off to another quick start at the beginning of the 2nd quarter when Conway collected a Regis turnover and turned it into an alley-oop pass to Freshmen De’Ron Davis. Perkins then went on his own scoring tear scoring 12 of Regis’ 18 points in the quarter. While Perkins kept Regis in the game, it was Sophomore Vaughn Samson’s three from the corner that cut the Trailblazer lead to two with 50 seconds left in the quarter. After an Overland turnover, Regis Junior Zach Smith tied the game with 31.2 seconds left in the half. With the score tied the Trailblazers worked for the last shot. Conway missed his attempt, and Junior Andrew Tillman grabbed the rebound and put it in the basket as time expired giving Overland a 38-36 halftime lead.
In the 3rdquarter it was the Raiders poor shooting and too many unforced errors and turnovers that allowed Overland to stretch the lead to 18 points at one time in the quarter. It was during that time that Conway’s athleticism was able to shine. Conway might be the fastest point guard in the state with or without the ball in his hands. He was able to scoop up steals and knife through the Raider defense with ease leading the Trailblazers to a 61-45 lead at the end of the quarter.
Perkins started to heat up again in 4th quarter scoring 16 of Regis’ 21 points in the quarter. The Trailblazer’s lead would get whittled down to nine points on a couple of occasions, but with Regis lacking another scoring threat alongside Perkins, they were unable to close the lead. Conway would seal the 80-66 win for the Trailblazers going 4-5 from the free throw line in the final minutes.
Perkins led all scorers with 35 points going 7-17 from the field and shooting 17-21 from the free throw line. Conway lead the Trailblazers with 19 points, Davis added 11 points, while Junior Taren Williams added 10 points.