Littleton – If Heritage has found its stride, as it appears it has, the defending Class 5A boys state champions picked the right time.
After going .500 in their first 10 games, the Eagles won their sixth game in the last seven, 75-46 over visiting Mountain Vista in a Continental League game Thursday night.
“Lately, we’ve been coming out firing,” 6-foot-7 Heritage junior Brennen Degner said. “We’ve come together, and we’ve been playing with a lot more intensity.”
Degner wasted little time taking advantage of the Eagles’ height advantage and finished with a game-high 20 points. He also had four rebounds and three blocks. Brian Tracey added 12 points and six rebounds for Heritage while Matt Tracey scored 10 points and Kevin Lake had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Heritage (11-6 overall, 4-1 league), No. 10 in The Denver Post/9News poll, has six league games left, including three against teams at or near the top of the Continental – Gateway, ThunderRidge and Arapahoe.
Mountain Vista fell to 10-7, 1-4 after playing three straight games against top 10 teams. Cass Behrens had 10 points, and brother Kyle Behrens had nine points and eight rebounds.
The Eagles never trailed and started to gain some breathing room midway through the first quarter. Cass Behrens made it a four-point game with a drive and an acrobatic layup in the second quarter, but Lake completed a three-point play after rebounding a miss and getting fouled in the half’s final minute.
“We were banging hard. It was a physical game,” Mountain Vista senior Dain Taylor said. “They came out with more intensity in the second half.”
Taylor finished with seven points and five rebounds.
Heritage outscored the Golden Eagles 46-26 in the second half by abandoning the outside for physical post play. Heritage had a decided height advantage, and Degner was able to slice through the lane for points.
“We have so many options,” Degner said. “And they couldn’t stop our pure size and height.”
“Now we are in a position to get the league leaders at our place,” Heritage coach Mike Broyles said of the Eagles’ next game, Tuesday against Gateway.
Mountain Vista 7 13 13 13 – 46
Heritage 16 13 22 24 – 75
Mountain Vista – C. Behrens 4 2-4 10, Zamora 2 0-0 6, K. Behrens 3 3-4 9, Taylor 2 3-5 7, Rasel 1 1-2 3, Dore 0 1-2 1, Schlitt 1 1-2 4, Musterman 1 0-0 2, Ringstad 2 0-1 4, Smith 0 0-1 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Jessup 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 11-21 46.
Heritage – Lake 3 4-5 10, B. Tracey 4 4-6 12, Zordani 1 0-0 2, M. Tracey 3 4-5 10, Degner 8 4-9 20, DiCola 2 0-0 4, Heffron 2 0-0 4, Mueller 0 0-0 0, Barnes 2 2-2 7, Semin 2 0-0 4, Young 1 0-0 2, Skufca 0 0-0 0, Brennan 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 18-27 75.
3-pt. goals – Zamora 2, Schlitt; Barnes. Total fouls – Mountain Vista 19; Heritage 18. Fouled out – None. .
