BROOMFIELD — Last month, the Longmont boys basketball team had Broomfield on the ropes but could not quite finish the job.
On Tuesday, the Trojans made sure the top-ranked team in Class 4A could not complete another second-half comeback.
Using an intense zone defense that kept Broomfield on its heels, No. 7-ranked Longmont survived an Eagles’ comeback bid by scoring the final six points to record a 51-45 victory.
Longmont, which would have knocked off Broomfield last month , recorded its eighth consecutive win since that setback and moved into a tie with Broomfield atop the Class 4A Northern League.
Both teams are now tied atop the Class 4A Northern League.
Broomfield (17-2, 9-1) had a 15-game winning streak snapped.
“Right after that game, we wanted to play them again,” Longmont senior Cade Kloster said of the first meeting. “We thought we could get to them. We really worked hard for this one.”
Longmont frustrated Broomfield with its 1-3-1 defense, forcing the Eagles into a 1-for-10 effort during the first quarter while sprinting to a 24-19 halftime lead.
The Trojans held a nine-point lead with six minutes remaining when Broomfield came alive, getting a 3-pointer from Aric Kaiser that capped a 7-0 burst. The Eagles tied the game at 45-45 on a rebound basket by Anders Christianson, but Longmont scored the game’s final six points to seal the win.
Aric Kaiser scored 20 points to lead Broomfield, which had rallied to tie the game 45-45 after being down nine points with six minutes left.
Kloster led Longmont (16-3, 10-1) with 18 points but did much of his damage passing the ball out of the post, connecting with 6-foot-8 senior Justin Traxinger (16 points) for several easy baskets inside.
“We were paying so much attention to (Kloster) that we weren’t really playing the passing lanes,” Broomfield coach Terrence Dunn said. “He did a great job passing the ball and dumping it down to Trax. He was just shooting layups all night. We have to do be able to adjust and do a better job on that. We had a 15-game winning streak. Now we have to start a new one.”
Longmont 13 11 14 13 — 51
Broomfield 4 15 8 18 — 45
Longmont — Cogdill 1 1-2 3, Kloster 5 5-8 18, Donaldson 2 1-2 5, Chopp 3 0-0 7, Traxinger 5 6-7 16, Mau 1 0-0 2, Merrill 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 13-19 51.
Broomfield —Reddy 0 3-4 3, Kaiser 6 4-4 20, Wood 1 0-0 3, Smith 1 3-4 5, Christianson 4 1-1 9, Reeb 0 0-0 0, Ongarato 2 0-0 5, Maddock 0 0-0 0, Fiscus 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 11-13 45.3-point goals — Kloster 3, Chopp; Kaiser 4, Wood, Ongarato.
