Lakewood – Truth be known, Bear Creek’s Aromous Robinson prefers playing an up- tempo brand of basketball, much like Chatfield plays.
But Bears coach Steve Hyatt believed the best way to beat the 10th-ranked Chargers on Wed- nesday night was by doing the opposite.
Robinson, a senior point guard and Class 5A’s second-leading scorer, helped the Bears execute Hyatt’s strategy to near perfection, often milking the clock for a minute or more at a time.
Bear Creek held on in the final seconds for a 49-48 victory that prevented Chatfield (13-5, 4-1) from taking control of the Jefferson County League race after Arvada West knocked Columbine from Jeffco’s unbeaten ranks Tuesday. The Wildcats, who lost to Chatfield in the league opener, are 5-1 in the league.
“He likes to push the ball a lot, but our plan was to slow it down,” Bear Creek guard Andre Adams said of Robinson. “But he always gets his points, no matter what.”
Robinson scored a game-high 21 points. He got Bear Creek going with two 3-point baskets after Chatfield seized a 42-36 lead just seconds into the fourth quarter. Adams followed with his third 3-pointer to put the Bears (13-6, 4-2) ahead for good with 3:02 left. Adams, who had nine stitches removed from his right (shooting) thumb last week, had 11 points – eight in the second quarter, when Bear Creek built its biggest lead (26-18).
“Coach told us they like to play an up-tempo game and play real fast, and we had to take the air out of the ball and slow it down,” Robinson said. “As the point guard, that’s what I had to do tonight. (The pace of the game) really doesn’t matter to us. We do what Coach tells us to do and try to get the win.”
Robinson had a hand in a big defensive play during the frantic final seconds of the game.
Chatfield battled back from 49-43 deficit with 2:09 left. Casey Black hit a pair of free throws – the Chargers had missed 3-of-4, including a one- and-one seconds earlier – with 2:04 remaining.
Then, after Bear Creek missed the front end of two bonus situations, Black bounced in a remarkable 3-pointer that went off the rim to the top of the backboard, hit the rim again and caromed off the backboard a second time into the net to make it 49-48 with 35 seconds left.
Chatfield got the ball back on a steal by Barrett Lavergne and had four shots at winning the game, but missed them all.
Said Chatfield coach Steve Schimpeler: “We played scared and we played tentative. … Mentally, we just weren’t into it.”
Chatfield 8 13 19 8 – 48
Bear Creek 14 12 10 13 – 49
Chatfield – Black 3 2-3 10, Bishop 1 0-0 3, Kenshalo 7 3-5 20, Murphy 0 0-0 0, Kannegieter 1 2-2 4, Lavergne 0 0-0 0, Reiter 2 0-0 5, Collins 1 1-3 4, Leroue 1 0-0 2, T. Fritze 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 8-13 48.
Bear Creek – Robinson 7 4-4 21, Adams 4 0-0 11, Englund 1 2-2 4, Runkle 3 0-2 7, Nelson 2 0-2 4, Wolfe 1 0-0 2, Spitzlberger 0 0-0 0, R. Fritze 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 6-10 49.
3-point goals – Kenshalo 3, Black 2, Bishop, Reiter, Collins; Robinson 3, Adams 3, Runkle. Total fouls – Chatfield 10, Bear Creek 15. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
