DENVER — The makings were there for Peak to Peak’s first run at a boys basketball championship: size, playmakers, a high postseason seed.
That, of course, was last season, when one of the best teams in Pumas basketball history won 22 games before being unexpectedly cut down in the second round.
On Wednesday, the Pumas were at the Denver Coliseum — the place many thought they’d be a year ago. After shocking No. 3 Holy Family to advance out of the opening weekend of the 4A postseason, they announced themselves to the rest of the state’s basketball community with a 57-50 win over No. 6 Aspen in the Great Eight.
“It’s been a year of just getting hit by some punches and learning to get up,” Peak to Peak coach Evan Eschmeyer said. “That’s what we talk about. Everyone in life takes punches. It’s really about how fast can you get up and throw another one back.”
The Pumas are experienced with things not going their way. Majoring in it.
They entered these playoffs with nine losses, which is three times as many as they finished with a year ago. And if you asked them, the number of injuries they’ve sustained this season has been an even bigger spike.
Just three weeks ago, their record sat at 11-9 following blowout losses to Eagle Ridge Academy and Kent Denver. They needed three straight wins just to climb up to a fifth-place finish in the 4A/3A Metro League standings at season’s end.
In their last game before the playoffs, they were dealt perhaps their biggest scare when star guard Tysen Burton was involved in a car wreck. Fortunately, Eschmeyer said Burton was taken to the emergency room but did not sustain a serious injury.
In fact, Burton made it to that night’s game against Stargate School and shot 10 of 14 from the field to lead all scorers with 23 points.
On Wednesday, the senior had a game-high 25 points to go with eight rebounds.
“Tysen has always been mentally tough as nails,” Eschmeyer said of his leading scorer. “I think the difference this year is he’s just developed a feel for things. Point guard is a hard position. He always had the athleticism of a high Division I point guard, but he came to the game a little late, like in middle school. So now he’s really developed a feel for the game that’s exceptional. And wherever he lands in college, they’re getting a steal because his ceiling is through the roof.”
With Burton, the Pumas are the big unknown left in their first Final Four — the double-digit seed nobody wants to face.
Burton hit a 3-pointer to beat the first-quarter horn, tying the game at 11, then added another 11 points in the second to give the Pumas a five-point lead at halftime. Cole Boonstra added 13 points and Ian Kalenzi had 11. The two helped spark a 14-2 run from the final minute of the second quarter to the 3:04 mark of the third to push the advantage to 17.
Aspen pulled within 54-50 on the back of a 13-0 spurt in the fourth, but the Pumas held on.
On Friday, they’ll face the winner of No. 2 Montezuma-Cortez and No. 10 University.
“We’ve gone through so much adversity with injuries and all that type of stuff,” Burton said. “So coming to these games and, whether we’re down or we’re up, just staying level-headed is what we’ve learned to do all season.”
