(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — In a tournament championship game fitting of its venue, Pueblo West and Rampart gave their fans one of the most thrilling finishes of this young boys basketball season.
The Rams led by four points with under 20 seconds remaining on the clock. Pueblo West found a way to score five points in those 20 seconds to come away with a 61-60 win, claiming the Rampart Holiday Classic title on the boys side.
“Last year in this same game at Rampart, we go up by four with 39 seconds left in the game and lose in overtime,” Pueblo West coach Bobby Tyler said. “It’s amazing how the tide just changes sometimes.”
The tide changed more than in just those final seconds. From the get-go, it looked like the CHSAANow.com Class 4A No. 9 Cyclones wanted to put the game out of reach early.
They started the game on a 8-0 run with Nieyeme Smeyer-Williams attacking the basket often and scoring six of those first eight points. West tried to cause as much damage as they could against Rampart’s man-to-man defense, knowing that they’d eventually move into a more comfortable set.
“Once a team goes man on us, I think that’s a bad idea,” Smeyer-Williams said. “No disrespect to any team, but we have talent everywhere. ”
Rampart coach J’on St. Clair eventually moved his team back into a zone defense which helped slow down the Cyclones (9-2 overall) offense.
“J’on runs Dan McKiernan’s 1-3-1 zone and Dan has perfected that thing,” Tyler said. “They’re so good at it and they’re so big, no matter what you tell the kids, it’s hard to get good shots off.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Trailing 17-4 at one point, Rampart went into halftime down by just a single point. That was mostly thanks to Josh Kavalec. He scored half of his game-high 24 points in the second quarter, putting the Rams (7-3) on his back to get them back in the game.
The big concern was just how much energy the Rams expended battling back against a traditionally athletic team.
“It was a lot,” St. Clair said. “We had guys that were trying to put too much on themselves and not play together. Just relaxing helped us.”
The Rams took a two-point lead after the third, needing to hang on to it for just eight more minutes to take the tournament championship.
But both teams were clawing, fighting and scratching to try and gain an edge. Rampart appeared to take one as Kavalec forced a steal at mid-court and scored on a fast break. The Rams got the ball right back and went inside to Dawson Carper who put it in to give them a 54-50 lead.
The two teams traded points as Rampart went up 60-56 with less than 30 seconds remaining. Jordan Lopez connected on a big 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 14 seconds left. But well after the shot, officials called a foul on Rampart, putting Lopez at the free throw line for two shots and a chance to take the lead.
“Jordan is an animal,” Tyler said. “He plays more minutes than anyone on the team. We can’t take him off the court because he means so much to us in that situation.”
Lopez made one of two free throws, missing the back-end. The battle for ball resulted in it going out of bounds off the Rams.
West ball.
As the Cyclones attempted to setup their play for the final shot, the ball was in the hands of Smeyer-Williams, the kid who scored the first six points of the game for his team. He was fouled by Xavier Johnson with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Now, with two opportunities, he just needed to score one more point. It took the second attempt, but he made one free throw, giving West the win and the overall tournament victory.
“It takes so much practice to be that one guy,” Smeyer-Williams said. “I’m a senior. I’m a leader. I have to be that guy and hit that free throw at the end.”
This year was the first time that the Rampart Holiday Classic was held at the Broadmoor World Arena. It proved to be a basketball-friendly venue and was well-received by players and coaches alike.
There is hope that the tournament will be held at the World Arena next season. If it is, something special will have to happen to top what fans saw in 2018.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)