CENTENNIAL — The next time it’s suggested that there’s more to basketball than shooting and scoring, develop side stitches from laughing wickedly and point to the first half of Wednesday night’s Grandview-Arapahoe game.
Ultimately, the host Warriors took a 62-45 decision in the Class 5A Centennial League, but it was 9-7 after a quarter and 19-12 at halftime. Even though it may be a reach to say that the two teams at least temporarily set back putting the ball through the hoop to, say, the 1950s, they combined to shoot 11-of-44 from the field in the first half.
The thing was, both the Warriors, top-ranked in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, and the Wolves defended. Rebounded. Got to the basket and took smart shots. Moved with and without the ball. And played extremely hard.
On “one of those nights,” few shots dropped. Over the first 16 minutes, they may not have been able to launch the ball into space with a rocket.
“I know,” Arapahoe coach Dan Snyder said. “But an ugly win is better than a pretty loss.”
The Warriors moved to 12-0 overall, 3-0 in the league and won their 16th league game in 17 tries. The Wolves dipped to 7-5, 1-2.
However, the two combined for 76 points in the second half, 43 by Arapahoe, which was led by Parker Semin’s 12 points.
“We just couldn’t make any shots,” Warriors senior Javon Moore said of night that included 16 missed free throws.
They managed to make more than the Wolves, who scrapped and hung around despite turnover woes.
“We competed, but we missed a lot of puppies,” Wolves coach Gary Childress said. “We’ve got to keep playing that hard.”
Grandview 7 5 16 17 — 45
Arapahoe 9 10 18 25 — 62
Grandview — Schlehuber 0 3-4 3, Garcia 4 5-5 14, Male 2 0-4 4, Burnett 1 0-0 3, Kennedy 1 0-0 2, Carney 1 0-0 3, Cosby Lee 3 0-0 6, Williams 0 0-0 0, Hehemann 0 0-0 0, Towers 0 0-0 0, Gentry 5 0-0 10, Sandoval 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-13 45.
Arapahoe — Fromm 3 0-0 8, Semin 5 3-6 13, Ratterman 1 1-2 3, Jessup 1 0-0 3, Johannsen 0 0-0 0, Moore 3 1-2 8, Webb 2 2-2 6, Balli 1 0-0 2, Kocur 2 3-6 8, Jensen 2 1-2 5, Haas 0 6-8 6. Totals 20 17-28 62.
3-pt. goals: Grandview — Garcia, Burnett, Carney. Arapahoe — Fromm 2, Jessup, Moore, Kocur. Total fouls — Grandview 17, Arapahoe 16. Fouled out — Cosby Lee. Technicals — None.
