Boulder – If he had to do it all over again, it would be the same move for Vince Valdez.
In his team’s first foray into Class 4A, the Abraham Lincoln coach loaded up his schedule with as many nonleague powers as he could, such as Grandview, Poudre, Aurora Central and Smoky Hill, in addition to the taxing city league slate of East, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Montbello.
It worked – the Lancers advanced to their first boys basketball title game after easily handling Broomfield, an annual 4A challenger, 62-44 on Thursday night in 4A’s Final Four at the Coors Events Center.
The Lancers will take a 19-7 record into Saturday’s finale against Ralston Valley.
“I would, I would do it all again,” Valdez said of beefing up his team’s schedule in dropping to 4A. “It was worth it. I’d go to Harrison (in the playoffs) again and face all of those teams. It got us ready for this.”
On a night when Abraham Lincoln standout Jorge Gutierrez was in foul trouble and virtually no factor, the Lancers’ depth humbled the Eagles, the 2004 champions who were competing in their third Final Four in four seasons and ended their season at 21-6.
Kadeem Thomas paced Abraham Lincoln with 19 points, Ruot Pal added 14 and two thunderous dunks, and the Lancers’ ball protection, spacing, defense and rebounding were solid.
Most notably, forward Francisco Cruz pumped in 15 points, including 10 in succession to begin the third quarter, and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Even with Gutierrez held to eight points, Cruz said, “we trust in each other and we play hard.”
Conversely, overachieving Broomfield may have had significantly less talent, but went down swinging – the Eagles constantly found the open player, made an effort on defense and challenged to the end.
“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” coach Kevin Boley said. “We just had some turnovers (16) and couldn’t hit some shots (16-of-40) against a talented team.”
Ryan Garren led the Eagles with 11 points.
Abraham Lincoln 16 10 19 17 – 62
Broomfield 8 9 10 17 – 44
Abraham Lincoln – Cruz 6 3-4 15, Torrez 0 0-0 0, Gutierrez 3 2-2 8, Thomas 6 6-8 19, Pal 7 0-1 14, Preciado 3 0-0 6, Carrasaco 0 0-0 0, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Ramos 0 0-0 0, Nguyen 0 0-0 0, LeRoy 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 11-15 62.
Broomfield – Barthule 1 0-0 2, Nehf 1 0-0 2, Stahler 1 5-6 7, Halliday 3 0-0 8, Garren 4 2-2 11, Fankell 4 0-0 8, Travis 0 0-0 0, Claeys 1 0-0 2, Nobles 1 0-0 2, VandeHoef 0 2-2 2, Fielder 0 0-0 0.
Totals 16 9-10 44.
3-pt. goals – Thomas; Halliday 2, Garren. Total fouls – Abraham Lincoln 14, Broomfield 16. Fouled out – None. Technicals – Cruz.
SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
At Coors Events Center, Boulder
Ralston Valley 54, Widefield 52
Abraham Lincoln 62, Broomfield 44
TODAY
At Coors Events Center, Boulder
Championship game: Saturday, 6 p.m.
(1) Ralston Valley (24-3) vs. (2) Abraham Lincoln (19-7)
