Cooper Drills Last Second Shot, Warriors Defeat Angels

DENVER—Denver East (14-7, 5-1) and Montbello (19-2, 6-0) came together for a battle at the top of the Denver Prep League standings on Saturday at the Thunder Dome.  Both teams entered the game undefeated in league play, and junior point guard Isaiah Cooper made sure Montbello kept its league record unblemished.        

With 2.8 seconds to play, trailing 60-58, Montbello’s Aaron Smith heaved the ball down court where it was knocked out of bounds by East’s Chance Moore leaving 2.1 seconds on the clock.  Montbello entered the ball to Cooper who caught it with his back to the basket, spun on the spot, leaned left and shot in the direction of the rim.  
 
Somehow, someway, as the clock expired, Cooper’s shot snuck up and over the rim and in for a 61-60 victory.  If a basketball rim is 10 feet high, and the three point line is 19 feet 9 inches away, then Cooper’s last second leaner came from 19 feet 10 inches away, and reached a maximum height of 10 feet and one inch.  But it went in.

Cooper has been trusted throughout the season to make Montbello’s biggest plays, and on Saturday Cooper rewarded that trust.  Coach David Carey described the timeout before the final sequence: “Isaiah told me before we came out of the timeout, ‘give me the ball, and I’ll hit the shot.’”   “We needed a bucket,” Cooper said.  “I wasn’t gonna leave the Thunder Dome without a win.”

It was not just the final 2.8 seconds which mattered, the rest of the final minute belonged to Cooper as well.  Trailing 58-53 with a minute to play Cooper swished two free throws to make it a three point game.  On the ensuing inbounds play Cooper poked the ball away from junior Uriah Carter, darted around Carter to save the ball to Roderick Taylor, got the ball back, sprinted and spun up the floor and found himself wide open for a walk-up three pointer to tie the game.

Denver East held the lead for the majority of the game behind the stellar play of Senior Phillip Watts and Sophomore Talon Whitaker.  Watts excels in the middle of chaos, and in a hectic third quarter, the East forward scored seven straight, and 10 of the Angels‘ 15 points.  The sophomore center, Whitaker, scored eight points in the fourth quarter, including a vicious dagger dunk and the Angels’ final field goal of the day, which appeared to be the winner.

Although East was able to maintain the lead for most of the game, the momentum began to change in the fourth quarter when Montbello inserted its big lineup featuring four forwards and Cooper.  “They were killing us on the glass in the first half,” said David Carey.  “We had to get some stops and some rebounds, so I went to a bigger lineup to make them have to look over the top.”

The biggest of the Montbello bigs was Roderick Taylor.  Taylor set up shop in the high post and scored on a variety of drives and post moves.  For the game Taylor finished with 16 points eight rebounds and five steals.  

Also huge for the Warriors was Sophomore Azlan Williams.  Williams has one of the purest shooting strokes in the state, and in the second half he repeatedly found the bottom of the cup.  Williams finished with 19 points.

The Angels’ game plan was altered significantly when lead facilitator Chance Moore picked up his fourth foul with 6:50 remaining in the third quarter, and even further when point guard Uriah Carter picked up his fourth shortly after.

Besides featuring the top two Denver teams, this game was a Carey family affair.  Denver East is coached by Colorado hoops legend Rudy Carey.  On the opposite bench Rudy’s son David and Brother Rick took a big step toward building their own legendary program at Montbello.

Denver East joins Lincoln as one-loss teams.  For a chance to win the league, East must beast Lincoln next Friday and hope Montbello loses along the way.

This win earns Montbello a spot all alone at the top of the league.  The Warriors can win the Denver Prep title by taking care of business in their two final regular season games against Thomas Jefferson and Denver North.  

Contact the writer at csilverman@milehighhoops.com