Greenwood Village – If Thursday night’s championship game of the Cherry Creek Holiday Classic between the host Bruins and Centennial League rival Mullen is a harbinger of things to come, high school basketball fans could be in for some fun in 2006.
Mullen (8-1) jumped out to an early lead, gave it up and then fought tooth and nail to hang on for a 59-56 victory.
“I told the guys at halftime that they were just going to have to buck up and get through and make (Cherry Creek) make plays,” Mullen coach Porter Cutrell said.
Cherry Creek (6-2) trimmed a 20-6 first-quarter deficit to 29-27 at the half, but the offensive momentum didn’t carry into the third quarter. Fortunately for the Bruins, who ended the quarter on a 16-2 run, the defense did.
“We can’t get down like we did in the first quarter and hope to come back and win a game,” Bruins coach Mike Brookhart said.
Mullen never surrendered its lead but saw Cherry Creek draw even behind the long-range shooting of David Fishel and Taylor Rhode, who combined to hit eight 3-pointers.
With Creek’s Taylor Montgomery doing his best to keep Mullen big man Ray Hall in check, the Mustangs looked elsewhere for offense.
The guard tandem of Devin Aguilar and Robby Hanzlik didn’t make a field goal in the final eight minutes, but their penetration got the Mustangs to the line, where they went a combined 11-for-12 to seal the game.
“This is definitely a good learning experience for us because we see a lot of the things we did wrong,” said Hanzlik, son of former Nuggets player and coach Bill Hanzlik. “Now we have the whole Christmas break to work on those things.”
Aguilar paced Mullen, finishing with 21 points.
Hanzlik had 18 and Hall finished with 11, nine of which came in the first half.
Creek, which had a chance to tie the game in the final 3.7 seconds but turned the ball over, made just six field goals inside the 3-point arc.
Rhode led all scorers with 23 points, and all of Fishel’s nine points came from 3-point range.
Cherry Creek’s 6-foot-7 Grant Parker, the team’s leading scorer, was playing with a sore shoulder and was limited to 11 points.
Mullen 20 9 12 18 – 59
Cherry Creek 6 21 14 15 – 56
Mullen – Aguilar 7 7-8 21, Ward 1 1-2 3, Shaw 0 0-0 0, Hanzlik 5 5-6 18, Hall 5 1-2 11, Therett 1 2-3 4, Elges 0 0-0 0, Brugman 0 0-0 0, Allen 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 16-21 59.
Cherry Creek – Sokoloski 3 0-0 7, Fishel 3 0-0 9, Rhode 5 8-11 23, Parker 2 7-11 11, Montgomery 2 2-4 6, Heimbrock 0 0-0 0, Pingree 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 17-26 56.
3-pt.goals – Hanzlik 3; Rhode 5, Fishel 3, Sokoloski. Total fouls – Mullen 21; Cherry Creek 19. Fouled out – Ward, Shaw. Technicals – None.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
