AURORA — Ken Shaw was as apologetic as a BP spokesman.
“Holy smokes! We were playing in mud most of the game,” the Regis Jesuit coach said.
True, the Raiders struggled before finally getting past visiting Doherty 62-52 on Saturday in Class 5A nonleague play.
Top-ranked in The Denver Post/9News poll, Regis Jesuit improved to 4-2 — both losses were in an out-of-state tournament — and extended its three-season victory string over Colorado foes to 49, although it lacked style points as well as execution.
“It was one of those things in which it would be pretty easy to use as an excuse, “Well, a late start, Saturday afternoon game and not much juice in the gym,’ ” Shaw said. “All those things, but we just didn’t bring it first. (The Spartans) did, then we finally got it going, but we never really played well for an extended time.”
The Spartans did early, despite being without longtime in-state fixture and coach Dan McKiernan, who recently oversaw his 600th victory and remained home ill with flulike symptoms. Doherty (4-2) made four of its first five shots, led 10-5 after a quarter and was ahead 21-11.
However, after the Raiders made 1-of-15 shots, were guilty of five turnovers and turned tentative inside against 6-foot-10 Jacob Lancaster, they finally erupted.
A 16-0 run gave them the lead for good, they finally figured out the Spartans’ zone, and Ryan Winters (18 points) and Tanner Samson (17) picked up the scoring.
Doherty went cold from the floor in the middle quarters, being outscored 43-26.
“I can’t wait to maybe get a chance to see these guys again down the road,” Doherty assistant coach Matt Steele said.
Doherty 10 14 12 16 — 52
Regis Jesuit 5 22 21 14 — 62
Doherty — Sisneros 4 0-0 10, Sampson 6 1-3 13, Young 3 1-2 7, Lancaster 2 2-2 6, Girtin 2 0-0 6, Rains 1 0-0 2, Romero 1 0-0 3, Strus 2 0-0 5. Totals 21 4-7 52.
Regis Jesuit — Winters 8 2-2 18, Clark 3 2-2 9, Dyer 3 0-0 7, Smith 2 2-2 7, Lesnansky 0 2-2 2, Samson 4 6-7 17, Macdonald 1 0-0 2, Perkins 0 0-0 0, Rees 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 14-15 62.
3-point goals: Doherty — Sisneros 2, Girtin 2, Romero, Strus. Regis Jesuit — Samson 3, Clark, Dyer, Smith. Technical — Girtin.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
