GREELEY — Somebody forgot to tell all those involved — from parents to players to the referees — that Saturday’s boys basketball championship game at the 54th annual Colorado High School Coaches Association All-State Games was merely an exhibition.
It felt more like mid-February than it did June with griping parents and a technical foul — and a buzzer-beating layup that lifted the White team over the Black 83-82 at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.
“That’s how it is when we play. Everything is competitive,” said graduated Prairie View Thunderhawk Derrick Ward, who scored the winning basket. “All we wanted to do was win.”
Ward, whose physical play prompted a technical foul call on Pueblo Central’s Donthe Lucas, was mobbed by his teammates and coaches after tapping in Kyle Englehardt’s miss.
“It was supposed to go to Kyle. He’s the truth,” Ward said. “I just got the rebound and tried to put it back as fast as I could.”
The Black team, paced by 18 points from Doherty’s Tyler Velasquez, trailed by nine points in the fourth quarter but rallied to take the lead with 42 seconds left on Velasquez’s 3-pointer.
Aspen’s Andrew Papenfus, who will be a walk-on at Santa Clara next season, missed two free throws that would have given the Black team an 84-81 lead with 24 seconds left.
“I feel bad for Andrew,” said Aspen’s Steve Ketchum, who coached the Black team. “We figured it was all going to come down to the coaching and have very little to do with the players. And as you can see, we got outcoached.”
The White team was led by 18 points from Caliche’s Dalton Schuppe, who hit three consecutive 3-pointers to close the third quarter.
Englehardt (15 points) of Lewis-Palmer, Jared Jenkins of Jefferson Academy (13) and Dominic Muniz of Centaurus (11) also scored in double figures for the White team, which was coached by Matt McNeeley of Cheyenne Wells and Troy Pachner of D’Evelyn.
Black 15 21 23 23 — 82
White 22 19 27 15 — 83
Black — Adams (Chaparral) 4 0-0 9, Crisp (Flagler) 2 0-0 4, Guy (Gunnison) 0 0-2 0, Hayden (Palisade) 3 0-0 8, Herrera (Ignacio) 2 2-2 6, Lucas (Pueblo Central) 3 0-2 6, Markoff (Westminster) 2 1-2 5, Morgan (Buena Vista) 3 2-4 8, Papenfus (Aspen) 1 3-6 5, Peterson (Green Mountain) 3 1-1 8, Shaffer (Pagosa Springs) 2 0-0 5, Velasquez (Doherty) 7 2-2 18. Totals 32 11-21 82.White — Engelhardt (Lewis-Palmer) 7 0-0 15, Jenkins (Jefferson Academy) 5 0-0 13, Muniz (Centaurus) 5 0-0 11, Neely (D’Evelyn) 0 2-2 2, Queen (Burlington) 3 1-4 7, Reed (Eads) 0 0-0 0, Schroder (South Baca) 1 0-0 2, Schuppe (Caliche) 6 1-2 18, Stone (Karval) 2 2-4 6, Ward (Prairie View) 2 2-4 6, Winger (Yuma) 1 0-0 3. Totals 32 8-16 83.3-point goals — Hayden 2, Velasquez 2, Adams, Peterson, Shaffer; Schuppe 5, Jenkins 3, Englehardt, Muniz, Winger. Fouled out — None. Technical — Lucas.
