When first-year Lutheran boys basketball head coach Josh Adams first arrived on campus this season, he realized his Lions needed a bit of a confidence boost.
The talent, of course, already existed for a team that went 21-4 during the 2024-25 season and earned the No. 1 seed for the state tournament. Its ride came to an abrupt end when eventual state runner-up Green Mountain snubbed it in the second round.
On Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum, with the 10th-seeded Lions boys a year older, wiser and under new leadership, they ascended all the way to the top of Class 5A when they defeated No. 13 Silver Creek 64-30.
All it took was a little belief in themselves.
“I just wanted to cultivate a spirit of structure as well as freedom, so they could be themselves,” Adams said. “The way that I kind of tried to build the structure was really to just put them in basketball positions as non-negotiables to create space — and then a couple of cuts here and there that puts everybody on the same page.
“If we get the ball in this spot, I know that this guy’s going to cut. If we drive baseline, I know that this guy will be here. This guy will be there. And then (I said), ‘Hey man, go out and be yourselves. All of you bring something very unique.’ We have some very athletic guys, some guys that can shoot the ball, some guys that can rebound the ball.”
After a tight first quarter, the Lions began to put some distance between themselves and the Raptors when they flipped a 9-7 deficit into a 26-11 advantage at the break. Evan Makkai and Kaden Tisdall, in particular, lit it up through that 5-minute, 22-second stretch to close out the half, scoring 8 and 6 points, respectively.
The Lions gave no quarter from then on out.
Kade Speckman, Lutheran’s 6–foot-9 senior power forward, used his size to punish the Raptors, pouring in 13 points and not one, but two alley oops that Makkai dished out.
It was Makkai, however, who paced the Lions with 17 points. Tisdall was just behind him with 16.
“It feels great,” Makkai said. “I’ve been waiting for a good game for myself. I step up in the big moments. That’s what I try to do. I think everybody really just wanted to play to the best of their God-given ability for (Adams) because we all respected him so much.”
Adams’ system, he said, didn’t start to click until a little over a month ago, when he realized he didn’t have to instruct his players nearly as much in practices. Once he was able to take a step back from yelling so much on the sidelines, the results began to speak for themselves.
Since Feb. 6, the Lions have been on a tear, winning nine straight games, including Saturday nightap crowning achievement. They finished with a 20-8 record, and Adams handed a lot of the credit to his graduating class.
“Our seniors got full on board with it — guys like Logan Clarkson, who has become a defensive menace as well,” he said. “He’s the positive force of the team. He’s a great shooter, great defender, and he leads with positivity and energy. You have Kade (Speckman), who is a vocal leader, and then Evan Makkai, who just dominates the ball on both ends of the floor. He’s a defensive menace. His ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the hole is impressive.
That package will now go down in history as the fifth team in Lutheran history to claim a state title and the first 5A win. The Lions won their last banner in 2021 as a 3A program.
“Me and Kade went to the Final Four two years ago and we lost,” Makkai said. “This has just been our revenge arc. We didn’t get a high seed or nothing. We just wanted it.”
