DENVER – The ThunderRidge boys basketball team’s chances at repeating as Class 5A state champions were threatened early by a first title-hungry Fossil Ridge squad on Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum.
But over the course of the game, the Grizzlies’ championship pedigree shown through.
After weathering a first-quarter onslaught, top-seeded ThunderRidge clawed its way back to win 58-49 and defend its title. It wasn’t an easy road along the way, as ThunderRidge carried a No. 1 ranking and subsequent statewide target throughout most of the season and the No. 1 seed throughout the postseason, and proved themselves worry.
“We definitely had a target on our back the whole season and we knew that coming in,” ThunderRidge senior Zach Keller said. “We knew we were going to get everyone’s best shot, but we came together as a team and we did it.”
The Grizzlies certainly took the Sabercats’ best shot on Saturday night.
Led by Brock Mishak, who did not miss a shot and scored 13 points in the first quarter, Fossil Ridge (25-2) opened the game on a 12-0 run and shot 87.5 percent on its way to a 17-11 lead to start the second quarter. In the second quarter, however, that lead expanded to only eight points at 30-22 in favor of the Sabercats, who entered the game seeking their program’s first title.
ThunderRidge (26-2) kicked off the second half with a 12-0 run of its own and were up by two to begin the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies pushed their lead to 12 with two minutes left and despite several good Fossil Ridge attempts to close the gap, were able to hold on for the win.
“They dominated us in the first half,” ThunderRidge head coach Joe Ortiz said. “They dominated the line of scrimmage and they were more physical in the first and the second quarter. We kind of started fighting back and playing more disciplined in the second half. We tried to play one possession at a time, I think we started to wear them down and we got confidence.”
ThunderRidge also had to come from behind to win 55-54 against Denver East in the Final Four on Friday night and several other times throughout the tournament. In victory, the Grizzlies also became the first non-metro team to win a Class 5A boys basketball title since Palmer in 2000.
“We’ve been down a bunch of times and it says a lot about our resilience and our character,” Ortiz said. “It also says that we’re not perfect. I mean, people exposed us. We’ve had our flaws shown in the tournament and during the year, but our strengths showed. Our strength in the second half, that’s our strength: our heart, our fight, our toughness, our depth. I’m super proud.”
Mishak finished with a game-high 25 points.
The Grizzlies had four players score in double figures. Andrew Crawford led the team with 16 point, Keller had 13, Joey Billelo had 11 and Jackson Brenna scored 10.
ThunderRidge has now won four boys basketball state championships.
