By Sebastian Wiegand, Sports Editor
Fresh off of their fifth consecutive season of at least making it to the Sweet 16, the Raider’s boy’s basketball team is poised to go deeper this season.
“Personally I just want to win state and make it deep in the playoffs,” said returning starter, Senior Elijah Reed.
Doing that will not be easy. Despite the fact that the Raiders come into the season ranked fifth in state by CHSAA’s preseason poll, they currently have four Top 10 ranked teams on their schedule: third-ranked ThunderRidge, fourth-ranked George Washington, sixth-ranked Regis Jesuit, and eighth-ranked Cherokee Trail.
The Raiders will return three starters, Tyrei Randall, Elijah Reed, and Elijah Blake, from last year’s team which finished the regular season 18-5 and ranked 6th in the CHSAA poll.
Each of those three starters played a key role; Randall led the team in points per game at 13.4, steals per game at 1.8, and blocks per game at 1.0. Blake led the team in assists per game with 2.5, and Reed was fourth on the team in points per game, 9.3, and second in rebounds per game with 5.3.
The Raiders will look to play the same style as they did last season when they ran a fast-paced game that ended up leading class 5A in points per game last season with 70.
The Raiders, however will have two big holes to fill as each of their starting big men, Jalen Davis and Tarren Storey-Way, from last season graduated. Davis and Storey-Way combined for 9.4 rebounds per game and 25.7 points per game.
Senior Stacie Reed, who recently transferred from Valor Christian High School, along with Senior Kris Hollins, are best poised to fill that hole.
“We will do it collectively,” said Coach Palmer. “Tarren and Jalen had great senior seasons; we have a whole team of guys who can contribute.”
As a unit the Raiders are lead by Coach Shawn Palmer. Palmer is headed into his 13th season as the Head Coach of the Boys basketball team. His career at Rangeview has been highlighted by success during his 13 years, including a Final Four appearance in 2012, four Great 8 appearances and two coach of the year awards in 2008 and 2011. He has also coached four athletes who have gone onto play Division I Basketball.
The boys will tip off against Thomas Jefferson High School Thursday at seven pm to begin the season.
Click here for the full schedule http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/rangeview-raiders-(aurora,co)/basketball/schedule.htm
