(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
PUEBLO — For a game of enormous size in terms of implications and attendance, a high school gym just wasn’t going to cut it. That’s why Pueblo South and Pueblo Central took to Massari Arena at Colorado State University-Pueblo for a heavyweight league showdown.
And it was behind Isiah Pannunzio’s 26 points that the Colts (10-0 overall, 2-0 4A South Central) cruised to a 79-51 win, solidifying their spot as a top team in the state.
“These kids have all grown up around each other and it’s a great rivalry,” South coach D.J. Johnson said. “Sometimes rivalries like this bring out the best in your team and sometimes the kids step up and play a little more inspired.”
And that certainly was the case. Coming into the game, Pueblo Central (7-7, 0-1) knew that in order to compete they had to take away South’s inside game. That proved to be easier said than done as Pannunzio dominated the post and got good support from Maleek Johnson who added 14 points in the winning effort.
“We knew coming in that we had to get the ball inside because they’re a small team,” Pannunzio said. “I just crashed the boards hard and had to post up hard to get the ball inside.”
The offense was never really the challenge for the Colts. Johnson knew that in order to come away with the win, he was going to have to figure out a way to limit the damage that Wildcat senior Mike Ranson could inflict.
Ranson came into the contest averaging 36 points per game and was more than capable of putting his team on his back and carrying them to a win.
“We talked about it for three or four days as a staff, figuring out how we wanted to approach him,” Johnson said. “He’s such a dynamic player and we came to the conclusion that the best way to defend him was to try and double-team him and get the ball out of his hands as much as we can.”
The plan paid off. Although Ranson came away with 26 points of his own, it was a very quiet 26. He only knocked down four 3-pointers and became visibly frustrated as his shots wouldn’t fall down.
“You have to run an offense and you have to do things to get other people involved,” Wildcats coach Brad Ranson said. “If he’s not hitting, we’re no good.”
The Wildcats came into the season with the highest of expectations, but suffered a crippling blow early with the loss of Kobi Betts to a torn ACL.
Since then, Central has been the victim of several more losses than they were anticipating. They thought they would be on the same level as the Colts who currently sit at No. 2 in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com basketball rankings.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Ranson said. “Like tonight, we should’ve played with them. They’re not much better than us. Tonight they were better and they just wanted it more than us.”
Ranson and the Wildcats will get another chance to show that they’re every bit as good as the Colts when the two teams square off again on Feb. 5.