Having lost to Rampart twice in league play, Doherty trailed by 18 points in the first half Friday and seemed destined to be ousted by its Colorado Springs Metro League rival.
Then the switch flipped.
The Spartans (17-9) roared back with a 15-0 run in the third quarter, forced overtime after a back-and-forth fourth, then handled the Rams (23-3) 69-64 to cap the shocking comeback.
“I think our team did get a little bit down, but that’s what I’m here for and that’s what Coach (Dan McKiernan) is here for,” said Spartans senior guard Tyler Velasquez, who scored a team-high 19 points. “We had to recharge our team at halftime.”
Doherty fell into the early crater after a 3-point barrage by Rampart’s Alexander Koehler. The senior, who led all scorers with 23 points, went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first half but only 1-for-7 the rest of the way.
Paul Willis, Special to The Denver Post
Regis Jesuit 86, Arapahoe 72
. On a night when Arapahoe successfully neutralized Bud Thomas, there simply were too many Raiders.
Joey Ptasinski and Michael Clark handled the scoring as defending Class 5A state champion Regis Jesuit (25-1) withstood opening and late lapses to earn its 24th straight victory and 43rd in a row against in-state competition.
Ptasinski had another stellar game with 25 points as well as a handful of steals, rebounds and assists. And Clark scored 23, a career high.
“Bud was kicking it out, and we were fortunate to be knocking them down,” Clark said.
Arapahoe (22-4) ran to a 9-2 lead on three 3-pointers by Tim Billingsley and cut it to eight points with 1:54 to play. But Regis Jesuit simply had too much.
“They were the better team,” Arapahoe coach Dan Snyder said. “And we had too many turnovers. You can’t do that against them.”
Late free throws by Clark, Ptasinski, Thomas and Drew Dyer sealed it.
For Arapahoe, Billingsley (23 points), Parker Semin (20) and Dan Eigner (12) led the way.
Neil H. Devlin, The Denver Post
Fairview 72, Grandview 54.
Fairview replaced a cringe with a sigh of relief when, after playing one of its poorest first halves in recent memory, the Knights entered intermission trailing by only three.
But a potential disaster morphed into a comfortable victory over Grandview.
Senior Darragh O’Neill scored 35 points, drilling 15-of-16 free throws, and the Knights advanced to the final four against Aurora Central (Thursday at CU’s Coors Events Center).
“We’re going back to Boulder next week, and I can’t wait to get there,” O’Neill said.
The second-seeded Knights (21-5) made their pivotal run early in the third quarter en route to their 14th consecutive win. After missing all seven of its 3-point attempts in the first half, Fairview hit 5-of-6 to begin the quarter — two by O’Neill and Michael Melillo and one by Will Oldham.
“We had to get used to this gym,” Melillo said. “It’s a lot bigger than we’re used to playing in, and the lighting is kind of weird. We got it going in the second half, and once one of us gets going . . .”
Kevin Gausman led fourth-seeded Grandview (16-10) with 19 points, but 17 came before halftime.
