Cheyenne, C-M in title clash

RENO -- No matter how many points a high school player has scored, no matter how many individual honors he has taken home and no matter where he's headed to play in college, every senior knows the only perfect way to finish a brilliant career is with a state title in hand.

With that in mind, five of Las Vegas' top seniors took the floor for Wednesday's 4A state boys basketball semifinals knowing they were just two victories away from that storybook ending.

When the day ended, three remained in the hunt: Cheyenne's Demetrius Hunter and Cimarron-Memorial's Marcus Banks and Brian Lang, whose schools will play for the 1999 championship tonight at 6:40 p.m.

The other two -- Clark's Kevin Gaines and Durango's Jason Burns -- did everything humanly possible to get their clubs into the next round, combining for a whopping 64 points and 32 rebounds. But in the end it wasn't enough, as the Chargers and Trailblazers headed home a day earlier than hoped.

Tonight's title game will mark the fourth time the Desert Shields (28-5) and Spartans (20-12) have played this season, with Cheyenne winning two of the previous three meetings.

"We know it's going to be a battle," Shields coach Larry Johnson said. "They're a good team spearheaded by Banks and Lang."

In the teams' most recent matchup in last weekend's Southern Zone semifinals, the lightning-fast Banks created major headaches for Cheyenne's guards, driving into the paint at will. Nevertheless, the Shields prevailed 65-63.

And after his team's win Thursday, Johnson promised his players would be more prepared for Banks' dribble penetration.

"We'll watch some tape of them tonight at the hotel, and we'll come up with something," Johnson said.

Highlights from Thursday's semifinals:

* CIMARRON 84, DURANGO 66: The Spartans broke open a close game with a 21-12 run to start the third quarter. Lang, who finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds, led the charge with 14 points in the quarter.

Durango, already playing without guard Justin Barkhuff, suffered a major blow when point guard Rudy Charles left the game with a shoulder injury early in the second half. Although the junior playmaker returned for a couple of brief stints, his effectiveness was limited.

Charles' absence allowed Banks to take control of the final quarter, as the Cimarron floor leader almost single-handedly held off the Trailblazers' final comeback.

After Durango (23-11) whittled a 17-point lead to 11, 68-57, with four minutes remaining, Banks fed Lang for a layup, then stole a pass and hit a jumper of his own to put the game out of reach. Banks wound up with seven assists and six rebounds to go with 17 points.

Junior forward Josh Englehart also played a big part in the Spartans' victory, scoring 19 points, pulling down six rebounds and blocking four shots.

On the other end, Burns' 32-point, 15-rebound effort went for naught, largely because his team lacked another consistent scorer. With Charles on the bench and guards Jamaal Brimmer and Chey Christie misfiring, Durango couldn't stay with the red-hot Spartans.

"The boys did a great job of playing defense today," said Cimarron coach Hank Girardi, whose club is gunning for its first title since '93.

* CHEYENNE 91, CLARK 75: The fourth matchup of the season between Gaines and Hunter lived up to expectations once again, as the two stars shined brightly in an entertaining game.

Gaines finished with 36 points, 17 rebounds and six assists, but it wasn't enough to offset Hunter and his 38-point, five-rebound, four-assist effort.

"It was fun playing against Kevin in high school," Hunter said. "But one of us had to go home, and I didn't want to go home early."

With Gaines and Hunter essentially playing to a draw, the game was decided by their supporting casts. Early, Clark's J.R. Wong had the hot hand, draining four first-quarter 3-pointers to stake the Chargers to a 21-9 lead.

But with Wong scoring just 10 points the rest of the way, Clark (22-11) never found another offensive threat to take some of the burden off the Michigan-bound Gaines.

"J.R. was really lighting it up early, but I told them, 'They can't keep shooting like that,' " Johnson said.

The Shields, on the other hand, showed they have plenty of weapons on both ends of the floor, most notably senior Larry Graves. The point guard scored 19 points and dished out eight assists, but it was his work on defense that finished off the never-say-die Chargers.

"He does the intangibles for us," Johnson said. "He helps everybody on defense."

Hunter showed off his all-around game as well, hitting 8-of-9 free-throw attempts, sinking four 3-pointers and throwing down a pair of highlight-material dunks.

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