5A boys basketball Great 8 roundup: Buzzer-beater sends Rock Canyon to first Final 4
(5) Rock Canyon 42, (4) Grandview 40
DENVER — With less than 20 seconds left on the clock, Rock Canyon trailed by two. Colin Rardin made a layup to tie things up with Grandview as the seconds continued to tick away.
And in a matter of three seconds, Sam Masten stole the ball and tried to throw it in the hoop. The shot missed but Nick Janedis was able to to get the tip in at the buzzer.
Pandemonium hit the Denver Coliseum and with a 42-40 win, Rock Canyon is going to its first Final 4 in program history.
“We just kept believing, you know,” coach Kent Grams said. “We just wanted to keep it even and keep grinding. Rebounding is key.”
Especially the final rebound of the game.
It was Janedis’ only rebound of the game. He followed it up by scoring his only two points of the game.
“I just thought I would attack it and see what happens,” he said. “The ball fell my way.”
It capped an exciting first game of the Class 5A Great 8. Rock Canyon started the game with a 11-0 run and led 17-2 at one in the first quarter.
But the Wolves wouldn’t go away. They outscored the Jaguars 23-14 over the next two quarters, going into the fourth trailing by only three.
Ben Boone gave Grandview a 37-36 lead with Masten answering with a layup to take it right back for Rock Canyon.
Boone knocked down another 3-pointer to make it 40-38 with less than 20 seconds left, prompting a Jaguars timeout.
“(I told them) I love them,” Grams said. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay. Just keep working.”
And they did.
After Rardin hit the layup to tie it, the Jaguars kept working. That resulted in a steal, an offensive rebound and a layup at the buzzer.
Which resulted in Rock Canyon’s first trip to the Final 4.
— Dan Mohrmann
(1) Eaglecrest 72, (9) Denver East 53
Eaglecrest boys basketball is headed to its third-straight Class 5A Final 4.
Leading scorer Colbey Ross was held scoreless into the third quarter, so the Raptors needed someone else to step up. For Eaglecrest, it wasn’t someone — it was the entire team.
“We’re an inside-outside team, we’re definitely not just a one person team,” Eaglecrest coach John Olander said. “That’s the great thing about Colbey, he doesn’t have to shoot the ball a ton of times — we’re not used to him taking a ton of shots and trying to score all the time.”
Ikenna Ozor and Josh Walton gave 14 points each to bolster Eaglecrest. Behind them, Victor Garnes added 7 points.
“It was a great team win,” Ross said. “That’s the thing, we all have eachother’s back. So, if I’m not playing good, someone else is going to step up, and that showed tonight.”
Ross picked it up as Ozor got into foul trouble, scoring 10 points in the third quarter after getting his first basket nearly halfway through the quarter. He ended with 19 points.
Part of the Raptors gameplan was to keep Denver East in front.
“They’re so good one-on-one, they’re very talented, very skilled,” Olander said. “If we can keep them in front and they didn’t hit a bunch of threes, then we liked our chances.
“That’s what we had to do. We talked to our guys and said we’ve got to get charges on a team that penetrates, we’ve got to try and get fouls on them.”
Eaglecrest had Daylen Kountz, the leading scorer for Denver East, with three fouls before the end of the first quarter. The Raptors were in the bonus just under six minutes left in second.
“He’s a great player, and that’s a great team right there,” Ross said. “So you play defense and push the ball, good things are going to happen.”
Kountz ended with 19 points. Jamison Washington led all scorers with 20 points.
The shots fell for Eaglecrest as they shot 44.9 percent from the field. On the other side of the ball, the Raptor defense forced 14 turnovers.
Eaglecrest had 17 points off turnovers and 12 second chance points.
Although the Raptors have regularly appeared in the Final 4, they haven’t won since 2013 — Eaglecrest’s only title.
“It would mean a lot for my career and for Coach (Olander)’s career,” Ross said on capping the season. “It would be the icing on the cake.”
The Raptors lost in the championship game against Overland last year.
— Cannon Casey
(3) George Washington 65, (11) Fort Collins 52
George Washington’s run and gun style has been a big part of the team’s success this season. So when Fort Collins came out with the same game plan, the Patriots felt right at home.
And as a result, they’re headed to next weeks Final 4 after beating the Lambkins 65-52 in Saturday night’s penultimate game.
“That’s the style we wanted to play,” coach Reggie Hammonds said. “I think we were going to do it a little bit better than they did.”
It wasn’t the cleanest start for either team as George Washington was able to take a 16-10 lead after the first half, but both reams were plagued with turnovers. The difference came on the shot chart as the Patriots shot 50 percent in the first quarter while Fort Collins only knocked down just over a third of its shots.
The Lambkins would improve on their shooting percentage and keep pace with the Patriots for much of the game, but spotting the Denver Prep League champs a six-point cushion proved to be detrimental.
“This is our first time here,” Jon’il Fugett said. “This is a different style of play and we knew we had to bring a different style in here. Both teams were good teams, we just hit shots today.”
Fugett finished with 18 points while Jervay Green added 12. Fort Collins was led by Jacob Pfaffinger, who also scored 18, and Damien Murillo who added 13.
Murillo was a big reason that the Lambkins only trailed by eight at the half, but his offense flow was brought to a halt in the second half.
With the lead in hand, Hammonds was able to turn his players lose and dictate the flow, which is exactly the way that the Patriots like to operate.
“Our game plan was to get up,” Hammonds said. “Then we can control the game and execute the way we want.”
They just hope they can do that for eight more quarters. The Patriots have carried an aura of hype all season and they have made no secret of the fact that they are hunting for a state championship.
“We made it a goal to make it to the Great 8,” Fugett said. “We made it a goal to make it to the state championship. We’re hungry for it.”
— Dan Mohrmann
(2) ThunderRidge 72, (7) Chatfield 64
ThunderRidge rode a massive second quarter into next weeks Final 4. The Grizzlies used a 13-2 run to outscore Chatfield 27-16 in the quarter en route to a 72-64 win.
“It’s scary when you get up like that. You can become complacent,” coach Joe Ortiz. “They’re playing with more of an aggressive mentality and we’re playing with more of a protective mentality. That’s a tough deal to be in. We did shoot quickly a few times; we need to take care of the ball.”
The teams were trading blows, then Kaison Hammonds caught fire. Hammonds had 15 points in the second quarter — almost outscoring the Chargers singlehandedly. He ended with 30 points, 11 from the free throw line.
“Kaison Hammonds had a great game, he made a lot of plays,” Ortiz said. “I thought initially we did a really nice job against the pressure and took them out of it.”
ThunderRidge kept the foot on the gas, but the Chargers would not give in.
“It was a big second quarter, we got the momentum on our side,” Hammonds said. “We kind of lost it in the third quarter, but got it back in the fourth. We just kept fighting.”
Chatfield went on a run of their own, charging back to cut the lead to 52-44 at the end of the third quarter. The Grizzlies sustained the run, but again Chatfield came at ThunderRidge. And again, the Grizzlies sustained it.
“Coach Ortiz told us to stay calm and to stick it out until the end,” Hammonds said.
ThunderRidge was able to stay collected and win the game at the free throw line.
ThunderRidge held Chatfield’s leading scorer Joe Miks scoreless into the third quarter.
“Corey (Seng) was guarding him,” Ortiz said. “Corey has better length than he does, our guards have more length and we played them tight. Corey is an excellent defender.”
The Chargers came in riding a 23-game winning streak. Chatfield’s Mike Vrabel put up 19 points in the loss.
ThunderRidge last went to the Final 4 in 2015. The Grizzlies lost in the championship to Overland.
— Cannon Casey
