WESTMINSTER — A year ago, Standley Lake had one of those seasons. The Gators were 2-21, about as bad as it gets.
“That speaks for itself,” said senior guard Brandon Applehans.
But what a difference a year can make — the Gators didn’t exactly put on a shooting clinic Tuesday night, yet battled past visiting Ponderosa 49-39 in the Class 5A preliminaries.
Standley Lake will take a 16-8 record into Aurora on Friday night, when it plays Grandview. Ponderosa, which competed in the Continental League, regarded as the state’s best, ended 12-12.
Coach Mike Puccio was glad just to move on.
“That was a tough matchup for us,” he said in pointing to Ponderosa’s size advantage. “You look at their record. They’d do well in every other league.”
But on a night when the Gators shot just 11-of-40, they scrapped, rebounded and defended. And made free throws. For the game, they were 21-of-26, including 11-of-12 by Applehans in the fourth quarter.
And holding a team under 40 points in the postseason can’t be bad.
“We pride ourselves at Standley Lake on good defense,” said Applehans, who led all scorers with 25 points. “(The Mustangs) had some good chances, but we got some key rebounds.”
Ponderosa had multiple opportunities down the stretch in a tight one — in which the biggest lead entering the fourth quarter was six points — but never came through. The Mustangs needed more than 11 minutes in the second half to score a third basket.
While aided by the Gators’ shooting woes (11-of-40), the Mustangs were forced to foul and Standley Lake made enough free throws.
“We were able to find buckets and that’s the key — rebound, defend and make free throws,” Puccio said.
Jake Lewis added 10 points for Standley Lake. Derek Scheuerman paced Ponderosa with 18.
Ponderosa: 10 12 5 12 — 39
Standley Lake: 11 13 7 18 — 49
Pondereosa: Scheuerman 7 3-4 18, Thielen 4 0-1 9, Barnes 1 0-0 2, James 2 0-1 4, Saunders 0 0-0 0, Reinke 0 0-0 0, Kelly 3 0-0 6, May 0 0-0 0, Scott 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 3-6 39.
Standley Lake: Pyle 0 2-4 2, Warren 2 0-0 5, Lewis 3 3-4 10, Hastings 2 2-2 7, Applehans 4 14-16 25, Fujinami 0 0-0 0, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Asmus 0 0-0 0, Allison 0 0-0 0, Quintana 0 0-0 0, Critchfield 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 21-26 49.
3-point goals: Scheuerman, Thielen; Applehans 3, Hastings, Lewis, Warren. Fouled out: Scheuerman, Saunders.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
