(Brock Laue)
LOVELAND — In basketball, one player can take over a game and lead his team to a big win. On Friday night, Thompson Valley’s Collin Smith was that player.
In a battle between the best defense in the Northern Conference (Longmont) — the No. 10 ranked team in this week’s CHSAANow.com poll for 4A — and the best offense (Thompson Valley), Smith scored 30 points and seemed to answer every one of the Trojans’ runs with a big bucket.
Thompson Valley, ranked No. 2 this week, defended their home court and beat their biggest challenger in the Northern Conference this season, 61-51.
In a tightly contested game throughout, Thompson Valley went up 17-14 at the end of the first and used a 10-0 run to take a 27-18 lead into the half. Longmont was unable to handle Smith all night, but did a solid job defensively on the rest of the team and held in the game with several critical baskets in the paint.
The Trojans cut the deficit to 40-38 going into the fourth after a 20-point third quarter and briefly took a one-point lead in the fourth. But in the end, there was just too much Collin Smith. Smith hit a clutch 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining to put Thompson Valley up 51-47 and the Eagles never looked back as guards Grant Rohrbouck and Mike Olivas calmly knocked down free-throw after free-throw in the waning moments.
The Eagles used their strengths — team play, ball movement, tough defense, and transition offense — to secure the win. But, above all, Smith was the difference-maker.
Thompson Valley’s Collin Smith. (Brock Laue)
The 6-foot-5 senior displayed a polished inside and outside game as he was effective on post moves in the paint, mid-range jumpers, and 3-pointers. Smith can be a difficult matchup for opposing teams because of his size, skill on the perimeter, and athleticism. He threw down a big fastbreak jam in the third quarter that sent the Thompson Valley student section into a frenzy.
Smith was understandably ecstatic after a game when he was unconscious shooting the ball.
“It’s great. It’s just flow,” he said. “You shoot something and you know it’s going in. It’s not something you see often, but when it’s there, it is nice.”
The Eagles’ coach, Josh Robinson, was very pleased with the team’s performance against a traditionally tough Longmont squad.
“I thought we played well,” Robinson said. “We had stretches where we got out of our flow a little bit defensively, especially in that fourth quarter. At one point we were down by one and I challenged our kids to get back to doing what we do defensively. We did it to a T the rest of the game.
“Collin had a nice game tonight and we need him to play well in big games. I really think it was a good team effort. Austin Dyer’s been sick all week and he came in shorthanded and had a fantastic game. Defensively, rebounds, he did a great job and Mike and Grant took care of the basketball. It was a team win.”
The win moved the Eagles to 13-1 this season and into sole command of the Northern Conference at 6-0. Longmont is second at 5-1, 11-3 overall.
Smith finished with 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting and went 5-of-6 from 3. Rohrbouck chipped in 14 points, was a good floor general and played tough on-ball defense. Olivas had seven points. Rohrbouck and Olivas went a combined 8-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute.
Clint Sigg led the Trojans in scoring with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and did all of his damage on offense in the paint. Sigg, Longmont’s quarterback this past fall, is a strong, athletic 6-foot-4 post. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Austin Kemp and Justinian Jessup, Longmont’s leading scorers on the season, never got into a consistent rhythm on offense but finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Longmont only has three seniors on varsity and possesses a talented sophomore class with Jessup, Kevin Mitchell, and David Speidel leading the way. The Trojans might be a year away from being one of the premier teams in 4A, but the senior-laden Eagles are having a special season.
“We’re one step closer to our goal. We want to be able to win the Northern Conference. That’s our number one priority,” Robinson said. “To get this win at home, this is the first step. We have a lot of basketball left.”
The weekend isn’t over yet for Thompson Valley as the Eagles take on a talented Cheyenne Mountain squad at 6:30 Saturday evening. The Indians are led by Montana State signee Ghassan Nehme, the leading scorer in 4A at 26.1 points per game.
“We go down to Cheyenne Mountain tomorrow, which I think is a big picture game for us, but tonight was our focus. We’ll go down there and compete tomorrow and see where we’re at,” Robinson said.
“We’ve played fantastic so far. Improvement-wise, which I think is a little bit of a bonus for us going forward, just keeping our focus throughout the game. We go through stretches where we fall asleep and if we can keep our amount of focus throughout the game, we’re a good team.”
Smith knows the enormity of a win over Longmont, though.
“It means we can run with anyone,” he said. “We don’t have to be afraid. After three years of being the underdogs, now we’re finally up top and people are coming after us. It feels great to be a senior and we’re the top guys.”