The kids and coaches didn’t know it back then, but the gymnasium at Morey Middle School in Denver during the mid-2000s set the stage for stardom. It’s where a pair of teenage teammates with basketball dreams developed their talent, and on Saturday, they’ll face off as collegiate opponents one last time in the Centennial State’s biggest game of the season: Colorado’s Dominique Collier and Colorado State’s J.D. Paige.
“We actually won the championship together our eighth grade year,” Paige said. “It was cool.”
Collier, a 6-foot-2 senior guard out of Denver East, and Paige, a 6-foot-3 redshirt junior guard out of Rangeview, have been competitors ever since.