Five Takeaways from Rock Canyon-Eaglecrest
On Tuesday night, the No.1 team in the state, Rock Canyon, paid a visit to defending champ Eaglecrest.
On season opening night for the Eaglecrest Raptors, they put on quite a show and battled for the entirety of the game before eventually falling 59-53 to Rock Canyon, who opened the season looking like favorites to win the whole thing. This was a game that featured two teams that have the talent to make a deep post season run.
Here are five takeaways from the Rock Canyon-Eaglecrest game:
Rock Canyon has plenty depth
Rock Canyon is good! This goes without saying, but, I’m unsure how balanced people understand RC really is. They have one of the best backcourts in the state with Sam Masten and Tyson Gilbert, who both carry the scoring load, but their frontcourt is just as strong as any frontcourt in the state and get it done in more ways than what appears on the scoreboard. Nick Janedis and Blake Williams combined for 19 of the teams points but impacted the game on both ends from start to finish, these two players have been playing well to start the season and are the X factors for this team.
Eaglecrest plays with heart–
The Raptors displayed some impressive heart and grit, even in defeat Tuesday night. Rock Canyon is coming off of a week in which they beat the then No.1 team in the state by 25 points and also won the tournament they hosted, convincingly. It would be easy to play less than inspired basketball and have to work out the first game jitters, but you didn’t see that from this bunch. Their leading scorer Branden Bunn got injured early in the game but was out there fighting and competing, hobbled and all. Do-it-all big, Morgan Brown showed his intensity on the defensive end, diving for loose balls, jumping the passing lanes and soaring for rebounds which opened up some scoring opportunities as well. He finished with 17 points and was the catalyst for the team. When your two best players are giving their all, it kick starts the rest of the team to also play with extreme intensity and that’s what happened Tuesday night.
Xaiv’ion Jackson defended with familiarity–
Sam Masten is unarguably a top three player in the state and plays an aggressive, yet, controlled type of basketball game that most nights look easy for him to go for 20 points. Most players look overly outmatched on most nights but Raptor guard Xaiv’ion Jackson held his own, why? Because–Jackson has been playing with Masten for over four years. Jackson and Masten played on the same Colorado Hawks AAU team and have had their fair share of battles in practice over the years. Jackson is a bigger guard that gets himself going with his defense as well as court vision and he displayed that on Tuesday. There isn’t a player in the state that can stop Masten 1-on-1, but Jackson did his best on slowing him down and that’s all you can ask of him.
Sam Masten does it all –
Like most nights, Masten was the leading scorer on the night as he finished with 18 points. The thing that stands out most about Masten is his IQ. He understands that the opposite teams game plan is to slow him down by any means necessary and he waits for the game to come to him. He doesn’t force many shots and he’s an ultimate playmaker as he rebounded, pushed the tempo and also set up his teammates with excellent scoring opportunities, primarily Senior guard Tyson Gilbert. The one-two punch that the Jaguars have create havoc for the opposing team and when they both get going it’s hard to stop. As long as Masten is being aggressive and creating for others, don’t see many teams being able to keep up with this squad.
Branden Bunn is important to Eaglecrest’s success:
The Raptors knew there would be a scoring void that needed to be filled when they lost last year’s Colorado High School player of the year Colbey Ross. Although it was only the first game, it seems as if they’ve found someone that could get it done on the offensive end in Senior Branden Bunn. He finished the game with 17 points and started the game out on fire knocking down back-to-back three-pointers and carrying the load for the first half. He displayed his range and also a few mid-range jump shots throughout the game and extended the Jaguars defense, which didn’t seem to be in their game plan which caused them to have to find ways to adjust. He had eight points in the first quarter before going scoreless in the second quarter, so he needs to show that consistence and same forceful mindset that he started the game with for the whole game. If he does that, he could be in the running for one of the leading scorers in the state this year.
Both teams are equipped for postseason success:
The competition in 5A this year is very competitive around the state, but both teams have the talent and experience to make a run at playing at the Coliseum again. Both teams have go-to guys in Masten, Gilbert, Bunn and Brown and will ride their strong play for the season but it’s their surrounding players that’ll determine how far they go. They both have passionate coaches that will create opportunities for their team to succeed and taking a look at the outlook of both teams they’ll both have a chance to excel. Every game counts and they’re both set up for the long haul.