LOUISVILLE — Michael Skinner said he wasn’t finishing in the first half Friday night at The Den at Monarch.
So the Horizon senior made it a point to do just that after halftime. He scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to propel Horizon to a 58-42 victory over the Coyotes, making the Class 5A Front Range League even more interesting.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Hawks improved to 13-6 overall and 7-2 in league play, just two games back of Front Range-leading Fossil Ridge. The Coyotes, who had won six league games in a row, dropped to 6-2 in the Front Range and 16-3 overall.
“I couldn’t finish at all in the beginning, but in the second half I was able to do what I do,” Skinner.
What he does is get to the rim. He got there repeatedly and either made the basket or was fouled after making just 1-of-6 shots and 1-of-3 from the free-throw line before the break.
After a sluggish start — the Hawks led 6-5 through a quarter — the shots started falling and Horizon pulled away. It got good ball movement, found the open player and converted.
Blaze Roberts (10 points) and Josh Ralphs (nine) added scoring support. And the Hawks’ extended zone defense bothered the Coyotes, who also missed a series of open looks. In all, they were only 11-of-36.
“Oh, man, no, we did not shoot it well,” Coyotes coach Ken Niven said. “We had been, then late in the game we just didn’t make any plays.”
Horizon coach Chad Wilson said he liked to think his team’s defense had something to do with Monarch’s poor shooting, and the result was indicative.
“You look at our league and there are a number of good games like this every week,” he said.
There are more to come, notably among the loop’s top six teams.
Horizon 6 13 16 23 — 58
Monarch 5 15 11 11 — 42
Horizon — Stubbs 1 0-0 2, Humphries 1 0-0 2, Moore 1 2-4 4, Skinner 7 8-11 23, Roberts 5 0-2 10, Strain 2 1-2 5, Schaeffer 0 0-0 0, Loucks 1 0-0 3, Ralphs 3 0-0 9. Totals 21 11-19 58.
Monarch — Kirkman 2 4-4 8, Fredricksmeyer 0 2-2 2, Rowan 3 2-3 11, Lawson 1 2-2 5, Webb 1 1-2 3, Hoban 3 0-0 9, Johnson 1 0-0 3, Katillus 0 1-4 1. Totals 11 12-17 42.
3-point goals — Ralphs 3, Loucks, Skinner; Hoiban 3, Rowan 3, Johnson, Lawson. Fouled out — Ralphs.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
