More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
BOULDER — The only thing that was missing from the start of the 5A semifinal match-up between Fossil Ridge and Mountain Vista was a celebrity telling everyone to start their engines.
The battle for the last remaining spot in the state championship game had a feel that was more like a NASCAR race than a basketball game.
Both teams liked to get out and run in the open court and neither was shy when it came to pulling the trigger on a shot. But in the end, it was the SaberCats who really opened up the throttle and took a step closer to finishing a perfect season. Fossil Ridge walked away with a 79-62 victory over the Golden Eagles, earning a date with the Denver East Angels Saturday night for the state championship game.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
In the early minutes of the game, the two teams found themselves locked in a see-saw battle that saw the Golden Eagles take a three point lead at the end of the first quarter as freshman Issac Phillips put up an off-balance shot that rolled around the rim and dropped just as time expired.
Senior Jake Pemberton, who finished with a game high 24 points, scored the first bucket of the second quarter to extend the Mountain Vista lead to five points.
And then the SaberCats took the inside track and stepped on the gas. Evan Smith’s eight points on three consecutive possessions highlighted a 16-0 run that gave Fossil Ridge a 12-point lead and total control of the game.
“We made some defensive adjustments and I though we really did well with that,” SaberCats coach Matt Johannsen. “We just try to worry about what we’re doing and try to be as efficient as we can. I don’t know what we shot for the game, but I thought the kids shot the ball well and the moment wasn’t too big for them.”
What had been a three point lead for the Golden Eagles after the first quarter had turned into an 11 point deficit at halftime. The SaberCats kept their momentum in the third quarter as they were able to extend their lead to 20 points, which created problems for the Golden Eagles’ up-tempo style of play.
“In the first quarter they kind shocked us honestly,” senior Alex Semadeni said. “In the second quarter we really buckled down defensively and I think they only scored eight points in the second quarter compared to (24) in the first. So we really focused on the defensive end.”
The SaberCats will have to continue to shine on the defensive end as they prepare to take on one of the top players in the state in East guard Dom Collier. The Angels have been potent offensively this entire season, averaging 72 points a game, with Collier leading the charge and netting an average of 23 points each time he steps on the floor.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
When he steps on the floor tomorrow, it will be for a chance to win a state championship on the very floor that will house his college career. The added motivation of avenging last year’s state championship loss could make Collier even more difficult to stop.
“I don’t know if (shutting him down) is possible,” Johannsen said. “We’re going to defend him as well as we can and we’re going to try and make him work for what he gets and let the chips fall where they may.”
If the chips fall for the SaberCats, they will have completed an undefeated season, a feat almost unheard of in today’s sports landscape. But the focus for Fossil Ridge is far from finishing undefeated, they are only interested in winning the next game, a mentality that they have carried all year.
“(The players) are the ones that have been driving this,” Johannsen said. “They’re the ones who are saying ‘one win at a time, one practice at a time’ and they haven’t let us look forward and that’s the maturity that they have.”
Saturday’s 5A state championship game is scheduled to tip-off at 8:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center in Boulder.