It didn’t take long for Dick Katte to figure out how to stop Basalt.
The venerable Denver Christian coach switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone after watching Longhorns point guard Ben Pollock control the tempo during the first quarter of Saturday’s regional final. Basalt was never able to regain its offensive rhythm, and the defending state champions cruised into the Class 3A state quarterfinals with a 43-29 victory on their home court.
Pollock opened the game with a 3-pointer and distributed the ball effectively as Basalt (14-10) ended the first quarter with a one-point lead. But the Crusaders clamped down on the senior guard, challenging every shot and leaving Pollock without a field goal for the rest of the game.
“We realized that (Pollock) was the key, so we just gave special attention to him all the time” after the opening quarter, Katte said. “In the second half we played a man zone on him, and he just didn’t get very many shots at all.”
Denver Christian (24-1) held its guests to just five points on 1-of-9 shooting in the second quarter and forced six Longhorns turnovers. Meanwhile, the Crusaders began to get hot on the offensive end, hitting three 3-pointers during the second quarter, which set the tone for the rest of the game.
Basalt shot 3-for-22 during the second and third quarters.
“Ben is our main cog and that’s been our struggle all year,” Basalt coach Michael Green said, “to find another person to put the ball in the basket. He does a good job of creating, giving other people opportunities, but we didn’t get enough of those tonight.”
Tristan Matthies had 14 points to lead the Crusaders.
Basalt 9 5 4 11 – 29
Denver Christian 8 13 7 15 – 43
Basalt – Pollock 1 3-4 6, Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 2, Wirkler 1 0-0 2, Rakowski 0 0-0 0, McDaniel 1 2-2 4, Troyer 1 0-0 2, Duroux 6 1-1 13. Totals 11 6-7 29.
Denver Christian – B. Matthies 0 0-0 0, Van Kooten 1 0-0 2, Smith 2 1-2 6, Poland 0 0-0 0, C. Matthies 2 0-0 5, T. Matthies 4 2-3 14, Lenderink 0 1-2 1, Adamson 1 2-2 4, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Schuster 4 3-3 11, Kurtz 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-12 43.
3-pt. goals – Pollock; T. Matthies 4, Smith, C. Matthies. Total fouls – Basalt 9; Denver Christian 13. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
