Castle Rock – The Palmer Terrors made sure that Thursday’s block party at Douglas County was no picnic for the hometown Huskies.
Palmer swatted away seven shots and had four players score in double figures to run away with a 73-51 Class 5A nonleague victory over a Huskies team playing without go-to player Keiffer Garton (knee).
The Terrors (13-2) were systematic in their half-court set behind 6-foot-9 center Elgin Fitzgerald, but broke the game open late in the third quarter behind a transition game fueled by 23 Douglas County turnovers.
Junior guard Dan Blackledge scored a game-high 20 points, Jo Jo Simons and Fitzgerald each scored 14 and 6-6 junior forward Derek Jones had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for Palmer.
The Terrors leaned heavily on their 1-3-1 zone defense to bounce back after having their 10-game winning streak snapped by Colorado Springs rival Coronado.
“I thought tonight the guys made a concerted effort to start the right way defensively,” Terrors coach Rob Hawkins said. “I think in the second half we kind of wore them down a little bit.”
Palmer took control midway through the second quarter and led 39-27 early in the third quarter on a layup by Simons. The Huskies cut the deficit to 43-38, but the Terrors took over, extending their lead to 68-43 midway through the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to come back strong … and try to get our momentum back,” Simons said. “It’s a good win for us.”
Said the Dartmouth-bound Fitzgerald: “If we can continue to do (the zone and man defenses) effectively, we should be good for the rest of the year.”
Douglas County (7-8), which dropped its third straight, got 15 points from junior Keith Arment and 11 from guard Deonta Edwards, and 6-9 center Tom Blount had nine points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“We’ve had problems being consistent all year,” Huskies coach Mitch Ubben said. “We obviously didn’t play a very good fourth quarter.”
Palmer 11 22 18 22 – 73
Douglas County 9 15 14 13 – 51
Palmer – Blackledge 9 1-2 20, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Renteria 0 0-0 0, Kret 0 0-0 0, Jackson 3 0-0 7, Baca 0 2-2 2, Simons 6 1-3 14, Jones 5 0-1 10, Schwenck 0 0-0 0, Collazo 0 0-0 0, Mayerl 3 0-1 6, Fitzgerald 6 2-4 14. Totals 32 6-13 73.
Douglas County – Edwards 4 3-7 11, Armstrong 0 0-0 0, Ziskin 0 0-0 0, Hilbig 4 0-0 9, Cox 1 1-2 4, Arment 6 2-2 15, Adkins 0 0-0 0, Blount 4 1-3 9, Prock 0 1-2 1, Gelroth 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 8-16 51.
3-point goals – Blackledge, Jackson, Simons; Arment, Cox, Hilbig. Total fouls – Palmer 16, Douglas County 14. Fouled out – None. Technicals – Kret.
