Austin Mueller was experiencing a moment. As he stood at the free-throw line in the game’s closing moments, a section of the crowd chanted to him about pressure.
Mueller simply looked at the group, frowned and made both free throws. It sparked a late run by the ThunderRidge Grizzlies, who fended off the Chaparral Wolverines 52-47 in a Class 5A quarterfinal game at the Denver Coliseum. It was the third matchup of the season for the south-metro programs.
Said Mueller: “It was actually Regis’ crowd. They started chanting to me and I was looking at them like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ But they want to play us again and we want to play them again.”
If that was to occur, it would be in next weekend’s championship game (Regis Jesuit faced Denver East in the final game of the day).
The Grizzlies, now 22-3, had their work cut out for them in taking down the Wolverines.
“It really was a hard-fought game,” Mueller said.
The Grizzlies led most of the way and used late free-throw shooting and defense to seal it. Noah Szilagyi made three in the final minute and Troy Brady added two. Meanwhile, Chaparral misfired on three attempts, had one of them blocked and had a turnover.
All of it came after a Chris Moody 3-pointer had tied it at 44 and Mueller began the separation with his free throws.
“Chap has incredible competitors,” Mueller said. “I loved playing against them.”
Moody and Jake Holtzmann combined for 27 points, but the Wolverines, who ended 18-8, were cold from the floor (16-of-43, 37 percent) and could only match ThunderRidge’s 23 points after halftime.
And the Grizzlies’ decisive 21-14 edge in the second quarter was mostly fueled by Zach Pirog, who led all scorers with 21 points. The 6-foot-10 senior, bound for Nebraska-Omaha, added eight rebounds, four blocked shots and gave his team the constant inside presence it required.
“It was really a hard-fought game and those two guys (Holtzmann and Moody) are so tough to guard,” ThunderRidge coach Joe Ortiz said. “You can barely slow them down. You can’t stop them.”
In calling them two of the best players in the (Continental League), Ortiz also said, “Well, Zach’s also one of them.”
It will be the seventh final four for ThunderRidge.
The Grizzlies won the first meeting between the two, 65-50 in a tournament Dec. 6. Chaparral returned the favor, 66-42, in league play Feb. 17.
