AURORA — Don’t ask ThunderRidge for any apologies. None will be forthcoming, and none is needed. The Grizzlies simply went into Class 5A top-ranked and undefeated Regis Jesuit’s gym and handed the Raiders a 59-36 defeat in the Continental League in front of a loud crowd and a packed house Tuesday night.
The convincing victory made both ThunderRidge, ranked No. 2 in The Associated Press 5A media poll, and Regis Jesuit 19-1 overall. Now 7-0 in league, the Grizzlies realize that it was only one victory with a week-and-a-half to go in the regular season.
“Obviously, when you come in and play the No. 1 team in the state, you expect a serious battle,” Grizzlies senior guard Noah Szilagyi said. “But we’ll take the win the way we got it.”
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Coach Joe Ortiz agreed: “We’re peaking, we’re definitely getting better … but this win doesn’t guarantee anything.”
Basically, Ortiz said, it came down to a couple of aspects. Regis Jesuit didn’t handle 6-foot-10 Zach Pirog. The Raiders (6-1 in league) doubled him, but the Grizzlies’ ball movement was consistent. ThunderRidge’s in-your-face defense also made it a long night for the Raiders.
“That’s who we are,” Ortiz said. “Our strength is defense and a 6-10 guy.”
Pirog scored a game-high 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots. He also passed out of double teams and Grizzlies such as Szilagyi (14 points), Elias Tiedgen (10 points) and Austin Mueller (two 3-pointers) were effective inside and on the perimeter.
Consider: In the second quarter, the Raiders missed their first nine shots and had four turnovers before finally making a basket. They had a scoring drought of 6:24. And in addition to getting manhandled inside, the Raiders could only watch as coach Ken Shaw cleared his bench at the midway point of the fourth quarter and listen as the Grizzlies’ student section crowed, “Thanks for playing!” to Raiders counterparts as well as “There’s a new No. 1!”
Plus, Regis Jesuit had a dreadful five-point fourth quarter.
“They’re an excellent team and hard to come back on, long and quick,” Shaw said. “That stretch where we got down there (in the second quarter) was too much to overcome, and that dictated the rest of the game.”
Taylor Kallsen’s nine points topped Raiders’ scoring.
ThunderRidge still has Ponderosa, Chaparral and Mountain Vista to play.
“We’re not satisfied and we’ll probably have to face (the Raiders) again,” Szilagyi said.
ThunderRidge 12 11 19 17 — 59
Regis Jesuit 13 2 16 5 — 36
ThunderRidge — Szilagyi 4 2-2 14, Mueller 2 0-0 6, Pirog 7 2-5 16, Tiedgen 5 0-2 10, Varto 0 6-9 6, Brady 2 0-0 5, Verk 1 0-0 2, Harhigh 0 0-0 0, Bloom 0 0-0 0, Engel 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 10-18 59.
Rgeis Jesuit — Kallsen 4 0-0 9, Kelly 1 2-2 4, Sanford 3 0-1 6, Staerkel 1 0-0 2, Boryla 2 0-0 5, Caseria 3 1-1 8, Ebel 0 0-0 0, Samson 0 2-2 2, Ksiazek 0 0-0 0, Reininger 0 0-0 0, Carrington 0 0-0 0, Hobbs 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 5-6 36.
3-pt. goals — Szilagyi 4, Mueller 2, Brady; Boryla, Caseria, Kallsen.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
