Fort Collins – There is nothing better in high school sports than a crosstown rivalry.
Make it a state quarterfinal game at a neutral site, and the ante is seriously increased.
Colorado Springs Christian advanced to the Final Four, outlasting rival St. Mary’s 47-42 on Thursday at Moby Arena.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight; they have too much talent,” said C.S. Christian coach Alan Karg, whose team won the first meeting 66-31. “That other game was just a fluke.”
St. Mary’s (16-8), which trailed by as many as eight points in the second half, tied it midway through the fourth quarter. Derek Brekken, who was just 2-for-12 through three quarters, started to hit in the final quarter.
C.S. Christian responded with a 6-0 run, highlighted by Aaron Henderson’s only field goal of the game, a 3-pointer.
“We’re proud of our boys for persevering and getting up for that as much as they could,” Karg said.
Up 43-42 with just 4.3 seconds left, C.S. Christian got two clutch free throws from Jake Selley to force the Pirates, who were out of timeouts, to do something special. St. Mary’s turned the ball over on the inbounds pass.
“I thank God for the opportunity to put me in that position and for the ability to make those,” said Selley, who had 10 points.
Said St. Mary’s coach Brandon Monson: “I’m very conservative when it comes to the timeouts. As a coaching staff, we knew if CSCS made a run, we would have been hard-pressed to battle back.”
St. Mary’s, in the quarterfinals for the first time in school history, had just four players score. Brekken had 14 and Matt Johnson finished with 13.
C.S. Christian (20-4), which will play Denver Christian in the final, was led by Tom Kohere’s 15 points.
St. Mary’s 12 7 7 16 – 42
C.S. Christian 15 9 7 16 – 47
St. Mary’s – Harris 2 0-0 6, Brekken 6 1-3 14, Johnson 4 4-4 13, Garcia 4 0-0 9, Gohl 0 0-0 0, Vizcarra 0 0-0 0, Mulligan 0 0-0 0, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Ernster 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-7 42.
C.S. Christian – Mellema 1 0-0 2, Selley 2 5-6 10, Broekhuis 1 0-0 2, Kohere 7 1-2 15, Baarts 3 2-2 8, Veltkamp 0 0-1 0, Henderson 1 3-4 6, Smith 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 11-15 47.
3-pt. goals – Harris 2, Brekken, Johnson, Garcia; Selley, Henderson. Total fouls – St. Mary’s 14; C.S. Christian 12. Fouled out – Harris. Technicals – None.
ROARING FORK 52, FAITH CHRISTIAN 49: Adam Joiner took only two shots, but he made the most important shot of the game.
With three seconds left, Joiner took a pass from Christian Tena and hit the winning 3-pointer.
“I was playing absolutely horrible and hurting my teammates out there,” said Joiner, an all-state golfer. “I went out of the game and was gathering up my stuff, and Coach told me to go back in. I was in there for free throws and last-second shots.”
Said Roaring Fork coach Roger Walters, who planted a kiss on Joiner’s cheek on the way to the locker room: “They were paying a lot of attention to Christian, we knew that, but we are going to put it in our best kid’s hands.”
Roaring Fork (22-2), the state runner-up last season, gave Faith Christian every opportunity to stay with them. Derek Parker missed two free throws with 52.3 seconds left that would have made it a two-possession game, but it remained 49-47.
Jobi Wall was fouled by Parker on the Eagles’ next trip down the floor, and he tied the game from the line with 39.3 seconds left.
“You’ve got to get lucky to win state,” Joiner said. “Hopefully, that starts a string of luck for us.”
Faith Christian got one last shot, but Abram Ziemer’s halfcourt heave caught the back iron.
Raaflaub led all scorers with 16 points, and Tena was the only other Rams player in double figures with 11. Tena also had nine rebounds, three assists and a steal.
John Hegarty and Graham Yantis each had 11 for the Eagles.
Faith Christian 10 13 13 13 – 49
Roaring Fork 10 11 21 10 – 52
Faith Christian – J. Hegarty 5 0-0 11, Wall 2 6-6 10, Ziemer 4 0-0 8, Colson 2 2-2 7, Yantis 4 3-4 11, Coon 0 0-0 0, McBeth 1 0-0 2, Cooney 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-12 49.
Roaring Fork – Parker 2 0-2 4, Nieslanik 0 0-0 0, Joiner 1 4-4 7, Tena 2 7-10 11, Ty. Hunt 2 0-0 4, Gianinetti 2 1-4 6, Tr. Hunt 2 0-0 4, Raaflaub 5 3-3 16, Udall 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 15-23 52.
3-pt. goals – J. Hegarty, Colson; Raaflaub 3, Joiner, Gianinetti. Total fouls – Faith Christian 17; Roaring Fork 16. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
DENVER CHRISTIAN 61, BUENA VISTA 48: When Denver Christian needs a big shot, rest assured a Matthies will take it.
Cameron Matthies was the Crusaders’ man, hitting two clutch jumpers at the start of the fourth quarter to give the defending champs the separation they needed to pull away in the fourth quarter for a victory over Buena Vista.
“I took my brother’s spot, usually it’s him that is knocking down the big three,” said Cameron of his brother, Tristan. “Today it was falling for me. This court has been good to us, and once I stepped foot on it, I got that good feeling.”
Buena Vista (22-4) clawed to within 47-41 early in the fourth quarter.
The Denver Christian offense, which had turned the ball over on its first two possessions of the period, found Cameron Matthies open on consecutive trips down the court, and the senior quickly built the lead to 52-41.
“I just kept shooting, and they just kept going in,” Matthies said.
The Crusaders (26-1), who beat the Demons 58-49 during the regular season, got 17 apiece from Cameron Matthies and Brent Schuster.
Schuster’s effort on the defensive end against 6-foot-8 Nate Solder was equally as impressive. Solder was limited to just 11 points. Buena Vista was led by Jon Woolmington’s 16 points.
Buena Vista 6 14 17 11 – 48
Denver Christian 18 10 19 14 – 61
Buena Vista – Solder 4 3-4 11, C. Graff 2 0-0 4, Robinson 3 3-4 9, Woolmington 6 3-6 16, Wolford 3 1-2 7, Kochevar 0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 0 0-0 0, J Graff 0 0-0 0, Rucker 0 0-0 0, Atwood 0 0-0 0, Ray 0 1-2 1, Allen 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 11-18 48.
Denver Christian – Smith 2 3-4 7, C. Matthies 6 2-3 17, T. Matthies 2 0-0 6, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Schuster 7 2-4 17, B. Matthies 1 0-0 2, Van Kooten 0 0-0 0, Poland 1 0-0 2, Lenderink 2 0-0 5, Adamson 2 0-0 5, Kurtz 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-11 61.
3-pt. goals – Woolmington; C. Matthies 3, T. Matthies 2, Lenderink, Adamson. Total fouls – Buena Vista 14; Denver Christian 14. Fouled out – Wolford. Technicals – None.
PAGOSA SPRINGS 58, KENT DENVER 57: Last year it was Yuma. This time around it was the Pagosa Springs Pirates’ turn to send Kent Denver home early with a buzzer-beater.
The Intermountain League champs from Pagosa and senior Craig Schutz stunned the Sun Devils, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left to advance to the semifinals.
“We were trying to run a couple of screens and get the ball inside,” Schutz said, “but Coach told us that if somebody gets an open look to take it.
“I was wide open, so I had to take it.”
The Pirates (17-6), whose only 3A loss this season was to Buena Vista in their first game, were held scoreless for the first 4:55 of the final quarter and saw their 52-46 lead disappear. Drew Warkentin, who scored all five of the Sun Devils’ bench points, and Tim Collamore went on a 9-0 run to start the fourth and give Kent a 55-52 lead.
Kent Denver (20-4) had a chance to put the game away, but Warkentin was called for a five-second violation, giving the ball back to the Pirates with 44.7 seconds left.
“We had a couple of things we were going to do, it just ended up that it took us that long to get a shot,” Pagosa Springs coach Jim Shaffer said.
“It looked really good, but that’s not exactly how we drew it up.”
Schutz (16), Jordan Shaffer (12) and Paul Przybylski (10) led the charge for the Pirates.
Robby Pride (17) and Kyle Lewis (16) did all they could to keep Kent close from the outside, and Collamore worked hard inside and finished with 17 points.
Pagosa Springs 16 22 14 6 – 58
Kent Denver 12 15 19 11 – 57
Pagosa Springs – Shaffer 4 3-4 12, Hilsabeck 3 0-0 7, Przybylski 4 0-1 10, Casey Schutz 3 1-2 8, Craig Schutz 6 3-4 16, Harper 2 0-0 5, Ormonde 0 0-0 0, Hart 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-11 58.
Kent Denver – Stabler 0 1-2 1, Lewis 6 1-2 16, Pride 6 2-2 17, Deevy 0 1-2 1, Collamore 7 2-3 17, Warkentin 2 1-1 5, Clark 0 0-0 0, Wiebe 0 0-0 0, Christian 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 8-12 57.
3-pt. goals – Przybylski 2, Shaffer, Hilsabeck, Casey Schutz, Craig Schutz, Harper; Lewis 3, Pride 3, Collamore. Total fouls – Pagosa Springs 12; Kent Denver 14. Fouled out – Stabler. Technicals – None.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
