Valor Christian rallied to beat Longmont in the 4A Final 4. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
BOULDER – Trailing by 10 points and with just more than seven minutes potentially remaining in the season, Valor Christian sophomore Jeremy Randle drained a seemingly innocent 3-pointer Friday night.
But that one shot proved to be the catalyst that the Eagles needed to kick things into gear. After managing only 28 points through the first three quarters in the Class 4A state semifinals, Valor Christian exploded for 30 points in the fourth to stun Longmont 58-53 at the Coors Events Center.
The Eagles (25-2) advanced to the 4A title game Saturday where they will face Pueblo West (24-3) at 6:30 p.m. in Boulder. It is Valor’s first appearance in the championship game since 2013.
“We’ve exhausted all the potential practices, exhausted the gauntlet of games,” Valor Christian coach Troy Pachner said. “(Saturday) there’s no pressure. We don’t take this as must do, must anything along those lines. Instead we’re going to embrace the opportunity.”
Just having that opportunity is a victory in itself. The Eagles struggled offensively Friday, managing only 16 points in the first half. Longmont (25-2) led by 12 points through three quarters, though Valor’s defense managed to slow down Justinian Jessup after the senior scored 17 first-half points.
“We already started it on the defensive end in the third quarter. We decided at halftime there was no more giving Justinian easy shots,” Randle said. “We picked it up on defense and I think that kind of collapsed them and gave us more open opportunities for the 3-point shot.”
Having missed their first eight 3-pointers, Randle’s trey gave the Eagles a much-needed shot of confidence. Valor went on a 14-2 run, and Randle and Jalen Sanders knocked down additional 3s to make it a one-point game.
“It’s the playoffs. Energy is what gets you going,” Randle said. “It’s a long season, so I feel like once one of us gets going, we’re brothers – we all get it going.”
Kevin Mitchell hit a pair of free throws, but Randle converted again from long-distance to tie the game at 46-46. Kayle Knuckles’ trey with one minute, 37 seconds remaining gave the Eagles their first lead since early in the second quarter, and the Trojans missed three of their final four attempts from the floor.
“There’s going to be times where we don’t make a lot of shots. It happens,” Knuckles said. “But we know we’re a good shooting team. We have great shooters on our team. Eventually they’re going to fall.”
Sanders led Valor Christian with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Knuckles added 19 points and eight rebounds. Randle finished with 10 points.
Jessup notched a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. Kolton Bachman added 10 points.
“You’re playing an incredibly well-coached team in Longmont. Coach (Jeff) Kloster is one of the best in the business,” Pachner said. “Senior-laden, whether it’s Bachman, Mitchell and Justinian is maybe the class of the state in any classification.
“We had a tough matchup there.”
Valor Christian has never won a state title in boys basketball, losing to Lewis-Palmer in 2013. The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals in each of the previous two years, including last winter by Longmont.
With only two seniors on the roster, the Eagles have gotten it done with a lineup heavy with juniors.
“I’ll give our team some credit,” Pachner said. “We’re young and I think a lot of teams would have said right there ‘you know what? That’s it.’
“We decided to fight.”