Doherty’s Tynan Valasquez (21) lifts a shot toward the basket during the second half of Wednesday’s playoff game against Arapahoe. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow)
COLORADO SPRINGS — It seemed like the time between the Class 5A state tournament bracket was released and Tuesday night’s game between Arapahoe and Doherty took forever.
It didn’t help that the game was delayed an hour as the officials’ arrival to the game was delayed by the weather.
But that didn’t seem to affect the No. 7-seeded Doherty Spartans (14-10 overall) as they were rolled to a 73-55 win to advance to the second round of the 5A state tournament.
“It was my first career playoff win here in Colorado,” Spartans coach Jarris Krapcha said. “It was also the first playoff win for a lot of the guys out here. We got that monkey off our back tonight.”
The Spartans were paced early by junior guard Dalven Brushier who scored 17 of Doherty’s 28 first half points. He finished the night with a game-high 23 points.
Doherty firm control of the game in the second quarter, building a 28-20 lead with the final seconds ticking away. But a Ryan King 3-pointer for No. 10 Arapahoe (7-17) cut the Spartans lead to only five at the half.
The Warriors hoped to seize the momentum, but in the second half, the shots just didn’t fall.
“We were 4-22 from 3 and 18-42 from two,” Warriors coach Brad Jansen said. “There was a point there where we missed three layups in a row. That’s six points and I think it would’ve cut it to a five-point game if we make those.”
The Spartans built a a commanding 47-33 lead after the third quarter. If the deficit and the missed shots weren’t enough for the Warriors, the fourth quarter finally saw the offensive breakout of Doherty guard Tynan Velasquez.
The junior scored 13 of his 20 points in the final period, with six of those points coming from the free throw line.
“We have three guards that can really fill it on any given night and go for 20,” Krapcha said.
On this night, it was Brushier that scored the crucial points when the team needed them. In the first and second quarters when the game was tight, the Spartans knew that his shots were falling so they made a point of getting the ball into his hands.
“I was trying to get in the paint on long close-outs,” Brushier said. “My teammates kept trusting me and giving me the ball because I was hot. That’s a big shout out to them.”
For the Warriors, a disappointing season has now come to an end. They didn’t make it as deep into the tournament as they were used to, but Jansen knows that his team is young and is looking forward to the next few seasons.
“It was a young squad,” he said. “We had zero returning varsity experience and we dealt with some key injuries at the beginning of the year. That was the best thing for us this year was to get the experience and see what happens.”
Next up for the Spartans is a road trip to Highlands Ranch to take on the Mountain Vista Golden Eagles. In their final two games of the season, the Golden Eagles knocked off, then-No. 2 Regis Jesuit and No. 1 ThunderRidge.
“We’re about to play a darn good basketball team,” Krapcha said. “We’re going to have our hands full. They’ve been there and done that.”
Tip-off for Friday’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m.