Dakota Ridge stays in the mix for 5A Jeffco title with win over Arvada West

ARVADA — Dakota Ridge junior Trevor Fuller put up a first-half performance to remember Wednesday night at Arvada West High School.

The junior guard brought the Eagles’ bench to its feet several times in the opening half. Fuller drained five 3-pointers and scored 19 points in the first two quarters on the way to a big 62-52 Class 5A Jeffco League road victory for Dakota Ridge over A-West.

“I was felling it,” Fuller said of his impressive first half. “I’ve had games like that, but never to that extent.”

Fuller finished with a season-high 23 points on the night despite not making a field goal in the second half. However, his 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds helped seal the victory.

Dakota Ridge (10-8, 3-1 in 5A Jeffco) had opened up a 45-18 lead with 1:25 left in the third quarter, but A-West (10-9, 2-2) would make a game of in the fourth quarter.

A-West coach Jeff Parriott’s squad poured in 28 points in the fourth quarter after scoring just 24 points in the first three quarters combined.

“I have the world of respect for Coach Parriott. I know how good of a coach he is and how hard his guys play,” Dakota Ridge coach Sean Kovar said. “We knew it was going to be tight and a close game. (A-West) showed late why they are super tough. They put themselves in a chance to win the game.”

Junior Carson Nichols carried the Wildcats offensively with 23 points, including 11 points in the fourth quarter. Junior Zion Thomas was shutout through the first three quarters, but got it going in the final eight minutes scoring all 9 points before fouling out in the final 30 seconds.

“They (A-West) out battled us on the boards,” Fuller said of what happened in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were outscored 28-17. “I think if we would have got more defensive boards in that fourth quarter we would have close it out earlier.”

The Eagles made just one field goal in the fourth quarter, but Dakota Ridge was decent at the free-throw line. Dakota Ridge went 15-for-20 from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes.

“We took some body blows,” Kovar admitted. “We just have to make sure we don’t get knocked out. We needed to stay tough, fight and finish.”

Besides the big night from Fuller, junior Carson Evans had a solid night with 14 points. Junior Alex Rodriguez started slow, but scored all 10 of his points in the second half.

It was the first game in 12 days for Dakota Ridge. With the Snow Day across the Denver Metro Area that cancelled all games scheduled for Feb. 2 and the Eagles having their league bye on Feb. 4, Dakota Ridge hadn’t played since a tough 2-point loss to Ralston Valley on Jan. 28.

“I was really proud of our guys and our preparation, especially with the gap we had between games,” Kovar said. “I thought we came out and didn’t look rusty at all.”

The game Dakota Ridge lost on Feb. 2 was supposed to be against rival Chatfield (11-7, 4-0). The Chargers and Ralston Valley (16-6, 4-0) are currently a game ahead of Dakota Ridge and Columbine (12-7, 3-1) in the conference standings with just three league games left.

“It’s going by really, really quick,” Fuller said of the league season. “I wish we would have played Chatfield, but we are playing right now and I want to keep playing.”

The Ralston Valley at Chatfield game Friday night will have a big impact on who wins the league title. Kovar just wants his team to take care of business as it closes out the league schedule against Valor, Pomona and Columbine.

“We are just going to control what we can control,” Kovar said of the league title race. “I’m just excited to play Valor on Friday night. I’m honestly more worried about what goes on in practice tomorrow that what happens with league.”

A-West had a 3-game winning streak snapped with the loss against Dakota Ridge. The Wildcats close out conference play against Columbine, Valor and Chatfield.