Highlands Ranch – Piece of pizza in hand, Matt Stern didn’t need much time to chew on what he had done Wednesday.
Who would have? Anytime a player comes off the bench to score a team- high 23 points, grab five rebounds and block one shot, the summation is obvious.
“That’s pretty good,” said Stern, ThunderRidge’s 6-foot-6 senior.
Ditto for the Grizzlies, unranked in Class 5A but not under the radar for long considering their tradition and Wednesday’s 70-54 mauling of No. 9 Poudre on the third night of the third annual Tip Off Classic tournament.
The Grizzlies never trailed and improved to 3-0 behind 64 percent shooting. They had four players score in double figures.
The Grizzlies religiously rotated eight players and seemed to find every hole in the Impalas’ defense, got nearly every roll and positioned themselves for just about every rebound.
Stern, of course, was the most impressive, battling on the blocks, scoring in every quarter and shooting 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
“It was their press,” he said. “We were able to one-pass break it and I was wide open under the basket. It was a matter of finishing.”
Zach Tiedgen scored 13 points before fouling out with 3:45 remaining. David Arnold scored 11 points and 6-8 junior Justin Becker added 10.
“We have a lot of different looks we can do and we’ve been taking turns stepping up,” Grizzlies coach Joe Ortiz said. “Today, it was Matt Stern, last night it was Scott Day, the day before it was Justin Becker. Nobody would have thought any of those three. Most would have thought Zach (Tiedgen) or David (Arnold), coming into the season.”
Poudre, which got 22 points from Dallas Elmore, was outscored 31-11 after tying the game 11-11 late in the first quarter. The Impalas (0-4), who took No. 1 Doherty into overtime on Monday, were plagued early by poor shot selection, especially against the Grizzlies’ zone defense, but still managed to shoot 19-of-38 from the floor.
“It’s frustrating because we do a lot of things on offense, but at the same time we rush our shots,” said Elmore, a 6-5 junior. “We take quick shots when we’re frustrated and then we come back and we break down.”
Anthony Crenshaw scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter for the Impalas, who cut the deficit to 11 twice in the final five minutes.
The semifinals for the five-team tournament are today and the championship game will be played Saturday.
Poudre 14 5 14 21 – 54
ThunderRidge 19 11 18 22 – 70
Poudre – W. Casey 0 0-0 0, Fulgencio 1 2-2 5, Crenshaw 7 1-3 17, Shaw 2 0-1 4, Elmore 8 3-5 22, P. Casey 1 1-1 3, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Roberts 0 3-4 3. Totals 19 10-16 54.
ThunderRidge – Day 0 0-0 0, Gaiter 1 1-2 4, Arnold 5 0-0 11, Tiedgen 5 2-2 13, Becker 4 2-2 10, Jelniker 3 0-0 8, Stern 9 5-5 23, Stender 0 1-3 1, Cone 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 11-14 70.
3-point goals – Elmore 3, Crenshaw 2, Fulgencio; Jelniker 2, Arnold, Gaiter, Tiedgen. Total fouls – Poudre 19, ThunderRidge 19. Fouled out – Tiedgen. Technical fouls – None.
