Doherty’s defensive intensity leads Spartans past Rock Canyon and into 5A boys basketball Great 8
COLORADO SPRINGS — As a school, the Doherty Spartans have embraced a “we before me” mentality. Wednesday night, the basketball team brought that mentality to life.
The Spartans got a total team effort to top Rock Canyon 63-56, putting them into the Class 5A Great 8. Next up is defending state champion, Overland.
“There was no better way that we could embody that,” senior Davlen Brushier said. “At the end of the day, it didn’t matter who was hitting as long as we were scoring, as long as someone was getting a rebound, playing defense, every little thing that we could pick up to beat this Rock Canyon team.”
Through the first eight minutes, the game remained tight, but then the Spartans (22-3 overall) turned up the pressure defensively. The Jaguars (20-5) looked unsettled as they connected on only two field goals in the second quarter and didn’t get the their basket of the second half until there was 2:35 left in the third.
Rock Canyon coach Kent Grams had hoped for long possessions that would generate high quality shots, but the shots weren’t falling and before he knew it, his team was down by double-digits.
“I think we were almost too comfortable,” he said. “We knew they were going to sag off and try to take away the lane and take away Sam (Masten). We had open shots, but we were missing those shots.”
Rock Canyon shot 30 percent from the floor on the night. And when a team isn’t generating points against an offense that features Brushier and Brevin Brimble, it’s going to be hard to beat Doherty. On the flip side, it’s a winning combination for the Spartans and it has them playing at the Denver Coliseum on Friday.
“You’re not going to lose too many games with that,” Doherty coach Jarris Krapcha said. “I thought we were dialed in defensively and it also helps that they missed a couple of open shots.”
Once the Jaguars finally made a field goal in the third quarter, the dam seemed to break. Masten and Noah Hirsch came alive and helped Rock Canyon net 28 points in the fourth quarter. The only problem is that it wasn’t enough.
Each time the offense was able to gain a little bit of momentum, the Spartans would take it right back. Brimble knocked down a couple of big 3-pointers in the third quarter that he felt gave the Spartans all the momentum they needed to advance in the tournament.
“Once I hit those shots I knew (we were moving on),” Brimble said. “That momentum carried to our side and once we get that, we do everything 10 times harder. As soon as we did that, I had a feeling that we were going to win.”
Brimble finished with 13 points points to go with Brushier’s team-high 15. For the Jaguars, it was Masten who led all scorers with 19 and Hirsch added 16.
This is the first Great 8 appearance for the Spartans since 2010 and they did it by practicing what has been preached to them all season.
“We got contributions from all eight guys who played tonight,” Krapcha said. “I couldn’t be happier for them. Every time you get a team win, confidence goes up.”
