Chatfield senior Alex Beckley, right, drives on Lakewood junior Ezekiel Sundberg. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LITTLETON — If there is anything like the ‘dog days’ of the prep boys basketball season it was on display Wednesday night at Chatfield High School.
It wasn’t the most impressive victory for Chatfield, No. 3 in the CHSAANow.com Class 5A boys hoops rankings, but it was a 67-55 win against a dangerous Lakewood squad.
“We feel it and we had to come over a lot of adversity with Joe (Miks), Landon (Rodgers) and Keland (Rumsey) was actually injured,” Chatfield coach Stephen Schimpeler said of all three nursing injuries. “It’s part of the season.”
While the Chargers (17-1, 9-0 in 5A Jeffco) were a little banged up, Lakewood (12-5, 6-3) was without one of the best pure shooters in the state in senior Kolton Peterson. The guard, who is averaging 16.7 points per game, was out sick with strep.
Chatfield senior Landon Rodgers, right, drives to the bucket. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It was a big loss,” Lakewood senior Jacob Storey said of playing without Peterson. “One of the worst days of the year to get sick, but I think our team came out and was definitely fired up. We played hard.”
The Tigers — led by Storey and senior Dallas Bailey — actually had a 6-point lead on Chatfield late in the first quarter. Storey poured in nine of his game-high 23 points in the first eight minutes. Bailey had a six-point first quarter to give the Chargers a test on Chatfield’s home court.
Despite beating Lakewood by 32 points in their first league meeting on Jan. 7 and without Peterson on the court for the Tigers, the Chargers knew they would be in for likely their toughest conference test so far this season.
“Kolton is a very good play and when he gets hot he is hard to stop, but Lakewood has plenty of guys who can make plays,” Chatfield senior Michael Vrabel said. “Jacob and Dallas are both animals on the inside and can shoot.”
Chatfield got things going with an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead midway through the quarter. The Chargers would never surrender the lead on the way to its 16th straight win and 25th consecutive conference win dating back to the 2014-15 season.
Vrabel (20 points), along with follow seniors Lucas St. Germain (15 points) and Alex Beckley (11 points) led the way. Rumsey also pitched in 11 points.
“It’s just one of those times where we have to pull through. It’s our league,” said Vrabel, who added the goal for this year’s squad is a second straight season with an undefeated conference record. “Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up some of our sloppy play because that is what it’s going to take to make a (state playoff) run.”
Chatfield junior Keland Rumsey (30) goes up strong. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The Chargers have a 3-game advantage on Lakewood. Chatfield is four games ahead of Arvada West and Dakota Ridge that are tied for third in 5A Jeffco with five league games left.
Chatfield can take one step closer to repeating as league champs when the Chargers host Arvada West at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3.
“We are just starting to get sloppy with the little things,” Vrabel said. “We aren’t taking it as serious as we should sometimes. We aren’t as focused as we should be at times. We’ve just got to sharpen up.”
Schimpeler added that he thought his guard-play was good against Lakewood, but needs to be great. He praised the Tigers for giving the Chargers their closest conference game of the season despite being shorthanded.
“Give Lakewood credit,” Schimpeler said. “I think they did a good job at really trying to raise their level of play. I give Lakewood a lot of credit.”
Lakewood returns to action when the Tigers host Columbine at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4.
With Chatfield well in control of the conference title, the Tigers are focused on getting healthy and playing as well as possible heading into the postseason later this month.
“It really has been a rollercoaster, up and down,” Storey said of the Tigers’ season that includes a win over No. 9 Denver East and losing No. 1 ThunderRidge in overtime. “It is that consistency that we are looking for. I think the biggest thing for us is coming together as a team. We’ve got to unite a little bit more.”
Lakewood senior Jacob Storey (1) had a game-high 23 points in the Tigers’ loss Wednesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)