Arvada West boys basketball remains perfect with victory over Chatfield

LITTLETON — One of the biggest Jeffco League boys basketball match-ups in decades is set to take place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, at Arvada West High School.

Ralston Valley will face rival A-West with both teams not only tied atop the Class  6A Jeffco League standings, but both will be undefeated with identical 15-0 records. Ralston Valley is No. 2 in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index, while A-West is No. 3.

A-West (15-0, 5-0 in 6A Jeffco) secured the undefeated showdown with a 76-66 road victory Wednesday night against a young and talented Chatfield squad.

“Today our focus was Chatfield,” A-West junior Cooper Vais said. “We’ll celebrate the win tonight and then our sole focus will be Saturday. It’s a rivalry game and such an exciting game. Two undefeated teams. A top-5 match-up. It’s going to be a great test and so fun.”

With the two Arvada-area schools separated by less than 3.5 miles, there will be plenty of juice in the key conference game Saturday. On the football field just three months ago, A-West and Ralston Valley were both undefeated at 9-0 facing off in the regular-season finale that determined the 5A Metro League champion.

Ralston Valley got the better of A-West to the tune of 49-20.

“Coming into the season we knew what was at stake,” said A-West senior Noah Meurer, who played in that football at the North Area Athletic Complex on Halloween night. “I know Ralston Valley is a great team, but so are we. When we see them on Saturday we’ll have a game-plan and I like our chances.”

Chatfield (12-4, 2-3) liked its chances early at home against A-West. The Chargers got out to an early lead on the shoulders of junior London Bright (19 points) and sophomore Brigham Jones (13 points).

“The first thing I wrote on the whiteboard today was, ‘You better be ready to play.’ (Chatfield coach Nathan Jerome) has done a fantastic job with those guys. They are big, physical and skilled,” A-West coach Danny Vais said. “Don’t kind yourself. (Chatfield) is really good.”

The son of Coach Vais took over in the second quarter scoring 10 points in the period to give the Wildcats a 37-30 lead at halftime. Coming out after halftime, Cooper Vais became an assist machine finding his teammates.

“The way he (Cooper) can just evaluate the floor and shoot the ball,” Meurer said. “I understand that every team knows to collapse on Cooper. When that happens, I get open looks. Keegen (Balistreri) gets open looks. Anthony (Torres) gets open looks. Everyone gets open because he is doing his job and is very unselfish.” 

Vais and Meurer both finished with 19 points each. Senior Keegen Balistreri had 18 points and senior Anthony Torres had 13 points for the Wildcats.

“Once the defense makes an adjustment we get it to the next guy,” Vais said of him being the distributor coming out after halftime. “That’s just our game. That’s our offense.”

A-West had a 19-4 run in the third quarter to push its lead to 56-36 with 3 minutes to play in the third quarter.

Chatfield did battle back in the fourth quarter to cut A-West’s lead to 59-50 early in the fourth quarter, but the veteran Wildcats kept the Chargers at arm’s length in the final minutes.

“On thing we strive for on offense is getting the good shot. I’ve talked about that since the first day I got here,” Coach Vais said. “Offense isn’t about scoring. It’s about getting a good shot. Hopefully you take enough good shots you’ll score a lot of points.”

A-West turns its attention to Ralston Valley and the first of two meeting between the rivals. The second meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21, at Ralston Valley High School. 

“It’s always a rivalry game. Chris and I go way back,” Coach Vais said of the Ralston Valley’s coach Chris Braketa who is also coaching his son Caiden. “Does it make our break our season? No. We are having a fantastic year. They are having a fantastic year. You can believe we’ll be ready to compete on Saturday.”