Top-ranked Valor Christian boys hoops rallies to beat No. 4 D’Evelyn
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Monday night might have been a preview to what a Class 4A boys basketball state semifinal or even title game might look like.
D’Evelyn, ranked No. 4 in this week’s CHSAANow.com poll, traveled to face top-ranked Valor Christian on the Eagles’ home court Monday night. Valor (15-3) faced a rare deficit in the first half, but used a huge spark off its bench for an 80-70 victory.
“D’Evelyn is a great team. It was great to see where we compare to them,” said Valor senior Chase Foster, who had 15 points in the Eagles’ seventh straight win. “They are definitely a team we’ll see further down the road in the 4A playoffs.”
The Jaguars (13-3, 8-0 in 4A Jeffco League) had their fill of seeing Valor senior Garrett Baggett make shot-after-shot in the non-league game. Coming off the bench, Baggett poured in 28 points to match a season high for the 6-foot guard.
“(Baggett) had a little slump Saturday night,” Foster said. “He came out with fire and passion in this game. He wasn’t going to let anyone stop him. That is what we needed.”
Baggett sealed the victory with 13 points in the fourth quarter, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
“It wasn’t a demotion or anything to have (Baggett) come off the bench,” Valor coach Ronnie DeGray said. “I felt, as far as offensively, he could do more for us coming off the bench as the sixth-man. He proved it tonight.”
Along with Foster and Baggett, seniors Marcus Wilson (11 points) and Christian McCaffrey (10 points) were key down the stretch as D’Evelyn attempted to rally in the final quarter.
Defensively, the Eagles turned it up a notch after holding on to a slim 40-38 lead at halftime.
“I tell these kids we can score the basketball, but we’ve got to stop the other team from scoring,” DeGray said. “Defense wins games. We had to dig deep and we did in the second half.”
The first half was a scoring fest. Lead by D’Evelyn seniors Ty McGee (17 points), Brian Smith (17 points) and junior Grant Witherspoon (21 points), the Jaguars held a 27-23 lead after the first quarter.
D’Evelyn coach Troy Pachner believed his team had a great shot at handing Valor its first lost to an in-state program, but a lack of defensive intensity was the Jaguars’ downfall. The 80 points given up by D’Evelyn was a season high.
“That was pretty exciting, but we decided we weren’t going to play any ‘D’ all night long,” said Pachner of the first half. “Valor is too good not to guard. I just didn’t like our second half at all. We certainly weren’t intimidated. We just weren’t up for the challenge.”
Valor pushed its second-half lead into double-digit points early in the fourth quarter. The Eagles’ largest lead of the game was 15 points.
Smith got hot for the Jaguars in the final quarter, draining a pair of 3-pointers on his way to a 10-point quarter, but it wasn’t enough. The Eagles made 14-of-16 free throws in the final eight minutes to keep D’Evelyn at bay.
“(Valor) is the team to beat, but we know we are close. We are right there,” Pachner said. “I’d love another opportunity to face them.”
The three losses Valor has suffered this season came to out-of-state teams at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.
The one downer for the Eagles on Monday was an ankle injury to senior Paden Mueller. The starting guard had to be helped off the court and didn’t return.
The Eagles won’t play until they travel to Colorado Springs to face Cheyenne Mountain at 7 p.m. Saturday.
D’Evelyn controls its own destiny in the 4A Jeffco League. The Jaguars hold a game lead over the Golden Demons (14-3, 7-1). D’Evelyn travels to Golden next week on Feb. 11 where the Jaguars could all but clinch the conference title.
D’Evelyn must first take care of business this week in league games against Conifer (7 p.m. Wednesday at D’Evelyn) and Evergreen (7 p.m. Friday at Evergreen).
