GREELEY — If you’re going to go out, you may as well go out on top.
Centauri boys basketball coach Larry Joe Hunt has been patrolling the sidelines in La Jara for 19 years, and on Saturday at the 53rd annual All-State Games at UNC’s Campus Rec Center he called it quits in style.
He helped guide the Black team to a 96-90 come-from-behind victory over the White in the boys basketball championship game.
“For the kids to come here and play hard and pull one out, as well as develop the relationships along the way, is pretty impressive,” said Hunt, who got to coach his son Colby Joe one more time as well.
“I thought I was done with that after the regular season ended.”
In rare All-Star Game fashion, the Black team rallied with a strong effort on defense.
“You play defense, you win any game,” Sand Creek standout Nick Fox said. “In an All-Star Game there is not a lot of defense, but when it’s time to go, we stepped it up.”
The Black trailed 81-73 going into the final quarter, but a 15-5 run to start the quarter gave Hunt’s team the lead with less than five minutes to play.
Fox and Pueblo South’s Kameron Wilhite did most of the damage for the Black, scoring 18 and 14 points, respectively. Sargent’s Andrew Price scored all 12 of his points in the third quarter, and Platte Valley’s Mitch Elrick also had 12 points.
The White team, coached by Golden’s John Anderson and Sedgwick County’s Dennis Tjaden, hit just about every shot it attempted in the first two quarters, jumping out to a 58-47 halftime lead.
But the hot hands turned cool in the second half, including those of Telluride’s Michael Matthews, who had all 11 of his points in the first half.
Tjaden’s son Justin and Grandview’s Cameron Cusworth paced the White with 19 points each.
Heritage Christian’s Jonathan McGinley and Broomfield’s Luke Gorman each had 12.
Black 21 26 26 23 — 96
White 24 34 23 9 — 90
Black — Crowe (Meeker) 2 0-0 5, Ridennoure (Rocky Ford) 2 0-0 4, Hunt (Centauri) 3 1-2 7, Widener (Granada) 3 1-3 7, Noffsinger (Legacy) 3 2-2 8, Schmitz (Coal Ridge) 3 0-0 7, Wright (Crested Butte) 1 0-0 2, Wilhite (Pueblo South) 6 0-0 14, Price (Sargent) 6 0-0 12, Fox (Sand Creek) 7 4-7 18, Elrick (Platte Valley) 5 0-0 12. Totals 41 8-14 96.
White — McGinley (Heritage Christian) 4 0-0 12, Padilla (Manzanola) 2 0-0 4, Screen (Glenwood Springs) 2 0-0 5, Straily (Lamar) 0 0-0 0, Cusworth (Grandview) 8 0-1 19, Matthews (Telluride) 4 2-2 11, Rueb (Hi-Plains) 2 2-2 8, Tjaden (Sedgwick County) 8 3-3 19, Gorman (Broomfield) 6 0-0 12. Totals 36 7-8 90.
3-pt. goals — Wilhite 2, Elrick 2, Crowe, Schmitz; McGinley 4, Cusworth 3, Rueb 2, Screen, Matthews.
