BROOMFIELD — When legendary coach Dick Katte talks about great Denver Christian victories, you had better listen. Go ahead and add Saturday’s 55-48 victory over Holy Family to Katte’s scrapbook of 798 victories as the No. 10 Crusaders battled back from a 20-point deficit to stun the Tigers.
Just how many games has Katte coached?
“More than 1,000, OK? And that’s as good a comeback as I’ve ever been a part of,” Katte said.
The Crusaders (11-5) won their fourth straight to improve to 6-0 in the Class 3A Metropolitan League by outscoring their hosts 43-16 after being down 32-12 less than two minutes before halftime.
Zane Dacus scored nine of his 12 points in the second half and 6-foot-8 senior Beau Baker scored 14 of his 18 after the break as the Crusaders regrouped from a terrible start and managed to cool the Tigers (9-7, 3-3 league).
“You like to have players have moments,” Katte said. “I call them ‘forever moments.’ And that was one that will live with those guys forever.”
As Holy Family knocked down shots seemingly from everywhere, the Crusaders were nowhere. But they showed signs of life when Erik Terpstra and Taylor Smith hit 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 34-20 at the half. Baker took over the third quarter and Dacus’ leaner gave the visitors their first lead with 1:33 left in the quarter.
“It felt good. It felt sweet,” Dacus said of the shot. “I knew we had it. We weren’t going to let it go after that.”
The Tigers battled back before Denver Christian took the lead for good on Ben Borger’s three-point play with 1:34 remaining.
Denver Christian 6 14 20 15 — 55
Holy Family 15 19 8 6 — 48
Denver Christian — Lenderink 3 0-1 6, Baker 8 0-0 16, VanderHoek 1 1-2 3, Z. Smith 1 0-0 2, Borger 1 6-8 8, Dacus 4 4-7 12, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Terpstra 2 0-0 5, Schwab 0 0-0 0, T. Smith 1 0-0 3. Totals 21 11-18 55.
Holy Family — Guzman 8 0-0 22, Wood 2 0-0 4, Wolfe 3 3-3 10, Gutierrez 3 0-0 7, Millard 2 0-0 5, Roth 0 0-0 0, Melcher 0 0-0 0, Ramirez 0 0-0 0, Cribari 0 0-0 0, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Haynes 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 3-3 48.
3-point goals — Terpstra, T. Smith; Guzman 6, Wolfe, Gutierrez, Millard. Total fouls — Denver Christian 13, Holy Family 16. Fouled out — Wolfe. Technicals — None.
