Ralston Valley junior Andrew Wingard, left, traps Dakota Ridge senior Cambrian Antrillo near the sideline Tuesday night. (Dennis Pleuss)
ARVADA — Tuesday night in Ralston Valley’s gym was a microcosm of how tight the boys basketball competition is atop the Class 5A Jeffco League.
Ralston Valley needed to erase a four-point deficit with 14.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter before scoring a 66-62 overtime victory against conference foe Dakota Ridge. The Mustangs were 11-for-13 from the free-throw line in overtime to upend the Eagles, who entered the CHSAANow.com 5A poll at No. 9 this week.
“Two gutty performances from both teams. You’ve got to give Dakota at lot of credit. They battled us to the very end,” Ralston Valley coach Mitch Conrad said after his Mustangs extended their winning streak to six games. “This is one you hate for either team to lose.”
Dakota Ridge (9-3, 4-2 in league) used a 20-point second quarter to grab the lead at halftime and pushed its advantage to as many as eight points midway through the third quarter before Ralston Valley (11-3, 6-1) rallied. Senior Bryn Finnefrock and sophomore Dallas Walton both went down with injuries in the second half, but returned to the court. Both were key in the come-from-behind victory.
Dakota Ridge junior Mason Grothuesmann (31) looks for an open teammate while being covered by Ralston Valley senior Johnny Weber. Grothuesmann led all scorers with 30 points in the Class 5A Jeffco League game Tuesday night. (Dennis Pleuss)
Finnefrock was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 12.7 seconds left on the clock and the Mustangs down four. The senior made the first two of three free throws to cut Dakota Ridge’s lead to 53-51, but missed the third. The unintentional miss actually worked out to the Mustangs’ advantage.
“I had confidence in my first two. The last one I was trying to make, but it didn’t go in,” said Finnefrock, who finished with 15 points. “Then I looked up and saw Jonathan (Gillespie) sky and get the rebound. That was a great play.”
Ralston Valley called timeout to set up a game-tying play. Walton caught the ball near the free-throw line and was fouled when taking a fade away jumper. The sophomore calmly made both free throws to tie the game at 53-53 with 10.2 second left.
“We didn’t take care of the ball like we should have and we didn’t rebound,” Dakota Ridge coach Curi Yutzy said. “Ralston Valley is an awesome rebounding team and they found a way to make a play when it counted.”
The Eagles failed to find the bottom of the basket on a last-second shot as the game went into overtime.
Ralston Valley took a 58-53 lead with 1:54 left in overtime on a 3-point play by junior Andrew Wingard. Senior Rane Hornecker was a solid 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the 4-minute extra session.
Dakota Ridge senior Ian MacDonald (21) splits through Ralston Valley defenders Dallas Walton and Zac Stevens (5) during the first quarter Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss)
“I’m really proud of my team,” Finnefrock said. “When the pressure was on Rane (Hornecker) made his free throws and made my free throws. Dallas (Walton) came up big and Jonathan (Gillespie) had the big rebound. It was a team effort out there and we came up with the win.”
Fittingly, Finnefrock sealed the victory making a pair from the charity stripe with 5.7 second left to make the final score 66-62.
Dakota Ridge got a monster game from junior Mason Grothuesmann in the loss. The Eagles don’t have a player averaging double-digits, but Grothuesmann had a season-high 30 points Tuesday.
“We’ve talked as a (coaching) staff that we need to get (Grothuesmann) going,” Yutzy said. “He is a heck of a ballplayer. Hopefully this is stepping stone for him to take another step forward.”
Dakota Ridge gets back into its gym to face Lakewood at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Tigers (9-5, 4-3) have been on a bit of a roll since coming back from winter break. Lakewood will enter Thursday’s game at the Eagles Nest with a five-game winning streak.
Ralston Valley will complete its first go-around with its conference foes when it hosts rival Arvada West (9-4, 5-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Mustangs actually faced the Wildcats in the championship game of the Ralston Roundup Tournament on Dec. 13, when Ralston Valley held off an A-West rally to take a 48-45 victory.
The important week of league games will end for Ralston Valley with a 4 p.m. tilt Saturday at Chatfield. The Chargers (10-3, 5-1), defending 5A Jeffco champs, handed the Mustangs a 73-57 loss on Ralston Valley’s home court in both teams’ league opener before winter break.
Ralston Valley senior Rane Hornecker, left, guards Dakota Ridge senior Jacob Flores during the first half Tuesday at Ralston Valley High School. The Mustangs scored a key 66-62 overtime victory against the No. 9 ranked Eagles. (Dennis Pleuss)