Stand-out Performers: Elite 8 (5A)

<p>At the Denver Coliseum Saturday we got to see eight of the top 5A teams in Colorado go head to head on the big stage. From that, we saw players step-up for their team helping advance them to the final four. Here are our picks for the top performers from Saturday.</p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="1167509" first="Nick" last="Randall"]- Fossil Ridge</b></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1167509" first="Nick" last="Randall"] was a dominant leading Fossil Ridge to beat Legacy 80-54. Nick was able to get whatever he wanted near the basket against Legacy, he used his length and good footwork to finish a ton of layups at the rim. He also threw down a big two-hand dunk off of two feet in the first half. Nick also was a bother on the defensive end as he blocked shots and scared players away from the rim with his length.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1284421" first="Luke" last="Williams"]- Chaparral</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1284421" first="Luke" last="Williams"] had a huge game scoring over 30 points. Chaparral faced a tough match-up playing Eaglecrest and was even down by 16 at one point. Luke remained calm and composed throughout and led the 4th quarter comeback for his team. Despite being a smaller guard he dominated near the rim where he had multiple and 1 finishes. In the fourth Luke seemed to have scored or contributed to nearly every bucket in the comeback run. </p> <p><strong>Daundre Samuels- Denver East</strong></p> <p>Daundre Samuels had a big double-double performance for Denver East, leading them to beat Douglas County by 11 points. Daundre was everywhere on the court for East, he rebounded, scored, and assisted teammates. In the game, he did not force any bad shots and was a patient decision-maker who more often than not made the right decision. Near the rim is where he put in most of his work, even having an exhilarating fastbreak dunk where he took off from two steps from the free-throw line. </p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="618859" first="Jackson" last="Brennan"]- ThunderRidge</strong></p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="618859" first="Jackson" last="Brennan"] had an impressive performance leading ThunderRidge to beat their rival Rock Canyon 78-51. Jackson was a pest on the defensive end of the floor, in ThunderRidges 2-3 zone he was able to get his hands in passing lanes and lockdown opposing players on the perimeter. Offensively he finished a lot of tough shots near the rim and had a few and 1 finishes. Jackson brought good energy for his team and helped them advance to the final four.</p>