(Zach Marburger/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Led by senior guards Mitch Lombard and Tyler Garcia, the Rock Canyon Jaguars pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory 66-59 at home over Continental League rival Chaparral Friday night.
“It’s so sweet,” said Garcia, who finished with a team-high 21 points. “We haven’t beaten them in the four years I’ve been here. It’s awesome to finally win one my senior year.”
The Jaguars (13-3 overall, 3-0 5A Continental League), ranked 8th in CHSAAnow.com’s weekly boy’s basketball rankings, had their hands full right out of the gate. The No. 6-ranked Wolverines (11-4, 1-1) were able to jump out to an early lead behind the work of seniors Jake Holtzmann and Chris Moody, who were each able to get into the paint at will in the first half.
And when the shots weren’t falling for Chaparral, they were able to out-muscle the Jaguars for offensive rebounds that lead to easy put-backs or fouls. At half, the Wolverines led 30-20.
About the only thing keeping Rock Canyon in the game was the work of Garcia, who was all over the floor — picking someone’s pocket in the backcourt, or streaking down the court for a coast-to-coast lay in.
“Tyler — I’ve never met a kid with more competitiveness in his heart and soul,” Rock Canyon head coach Kent Grams said. “It’s all he is. He’s the heart and soul of our team. When Tyler goes, we go.”
Still, despite Garcia’s best work, Rock Canyon still trailed big in the third quarter. That’s when Lombard — who’d been quiet for most of the game as Chaparral did a great job cutting off the passing lanes — began looking for his own points, hurling himself into the lane again and again.
“We talk about Mitch all the time,” said Grams. “He’s such a special kid. He does a great job of being able to put his team on his back when he needs to. It was an outstanding job by him. The leadership he brings to our team is outstanding.”
“We just got a sense of urgency in the second half, and we just realized it was go-time,” said Lombard. “We had to do something. We just decided to take over the game, and a lot of that was made possible by my teammates being open and making their shots.”
The deficit narrowed to six by the end of third quarter, but Rock Canyon still trailed — in fact, their first lead of the game didn’t come until overtime, when the Jaguars won the tip and Garcia slipped out for an easy lay-in to gain a 52-50 advantage.
From there, it was all Lombard, who barreled into the lane for lay-ins to stretch Rock Canyon’s lead out even further. Chaparral, despite a great effort from Holtzmann (who finished with 19 points) and Moody (who finished with 16, including a late three that kept the game tight), simply ran out of gas on the road.
Lombard finished with 19 points, including six in overtime.
“Resilience is something coach talks about day-in and day-out,” said Lombard. “He just says every time we get knocked down we’ve got to come together as a team and bounce-back, and that’s what we did.”
“We’ve been talking about facing adversity all year,” added Grams. “I’ve had these guys for three years now and we haven’t had a win like that. I’m just proud of our guys. We stuck together.”
Rock Canyon will look to ride their emotional high to another victory against Ponderosa on the road Tuesday, while Chaparral will try and bounce-back Tuesday on the road against Castle View.