Basketball Recap: Deven Vaden's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Gateway over Aurora Central

Gateway was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a 67-51 bruising from the Aurora Central Trojans. The Olympians were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Trojans apparently hadn't forgotten their loss the last time these teams played back in January of 2024.

Gateway lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Deven Vaden, who posted six points in addition to ten boards and three steals. Another player making a difference was Nickalus Smith, who earned 12 points along with seven assists and seven rebounds.

Olympians

Offensive Rebounds

01/18/24 vs Skyview	23
01/16/25 vs Aurora Central	21
12/12/23 vs Kennedy	20
12/01/23 vs Thornton	19
01/25/24 @ Far Northeast W	18

Even though they lost, Gateway smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 21 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've posted since back in January of 2024.

Alejandro (Alex) Flores continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Aurora Central, going 10 of 17 en route to 28 points and four steals. That makes it seven consecutive games in which Flores has scored at least a third of Aurora Central's points. Christ Tah was another key player, putting up eight points and eight boards.

Gateway's defeat dropped their record down to 2-9. As for Aurora Central, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-7.

Gateway has already played their next contest, a 56-48 victory against Village on the 18th. As for Aurora Central, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 60-55 win against Adams City on the 21st.