AURORA — Joey Ptasinski loves the Regis offense.
It was on display Saturday night, when the Raiders handled visiting Fort Collins 72-52 in Class 5A nonleague game, a mix of teammates being very much in tune considering it’s early December.
Through three victories, the Raiders, ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, appear to have multiple ball-handlers, shooters and competitors who move without the ball and share it when they have it.
“It was pretty much a team effort; we all came and brought it,” Ptasinski said. “It would be nice to do it every single day . . . and every single one of our players is a weapon.”
Ptasinski was chief among Regis players with a game-high 22 points. R.J. Demps (18 points) and Bud Thomas (15) turned in their usual strong games in pacing the Raiders to assorted leads before allowing the No. 8 Lambkins (0-1) back in. However, the Raiders’ considerable firepower flared up every time Fort Collins made a move, and the outcome wasn’t in doubt despite the lapses.
“They’re a good comeback team,” Regis coach Ken Shaw said of Fort Collins after notching his 535th career victory. “Some of letting them back in was our own fault. We shot the ball well at times. We missed some easy ones, but we shared it well. I think they’ll be a good team.”
Fort Collins is still working out the kinks. The Lambkins’ opener was scheduled for earlier in the week before it was postponed because of bad weather. On Saturday, they started coldly, misfiring from the floor until 3:27 remained in the first quarter, then playing catch-up the rest of the way.
The Lambkins received a lot of offense from Austin Maag and Nate McAuliffe but not much else. Only three Lamb- kins scored as Maag and McAuliffe combined for 45 points.
Fort Collins coach Monty Alcaraz, who earlier assisted Shaw for a decade, was disappointed after anticipating much more, including moving the ball. He frowned at the one-on-one penchants that dominated his team’s offense.
“You can’t have a good offense when only two guys (score the majority of the time),” he said. “We need to have a couple of our role guys get some opportunities, but we have to pass the ball.”
Fort Collins 10 14 12 16 — 52
Regis 15 16 26 15 — 72
Fort Collins — McAuliffe 8 5-8 22, Brakke 0 0-0 0, Ahlbrandt 0 0-0 0, Spicer 2 1-2 7, Fleener 0 0-0 0, Maag 11 1-2 23, Kelley 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-12 52.
Regis — Ptasinski 8 3-3 22, Cobb 2 1-2 5, Demps 8 0-0 18, Thomas 5 4-5 15, Dyer 3 2-3 8, Winters 1 0-2 2, Clark 0 2-2 2, Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 12-17 72.
3-point goals — Spicer 2, McAuliffe; Ptasin- ski 3, Demps 2, Thomas. Total fouls — Fort Collins 17, Regis 12. Fouled out — Maag. Technicals — None.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
