(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Things just got a little more interesting in the Colorado Springs Metro League.
With Doherty’s solid play all season and Rampart coming off a championship performance in their own tournament – which included wins over defending Class 4A champion Pueblo West and defending 3A champion Colorado Springs Christian School – it was starting to look a two-horse race.
But Liberty’s 80-73 win over Rampart on Thursday night may have changed that. The Lancers (8-4 overall, 3-0 5A CSML) suddenly look like legitimate contenders.
“Absolutely,” Liberty coach Ivan Chambers said. “Look at it. We beat Vista Ridge by 24 and Vista Ridge turns around and beats Doherty. Rampart beats Vista Ridge by one. Now look who’s taking control.”
And take control they did.
The Lancers built an early 18-9 lead, but found themselves heading into the locker room trailing 40-34 at halftime.
In order to turn the game around, they had to start getting production from its back court. The trio of Moz Doria, Matt Kirk and Sean Bohuslavsky combined for 52 points of the team’s total offense.
“It’s a team game,” Doria said. “We have to be able to play well together and that I think that’s what helped us in this game.”
All in all, Liberty took Rampart by surprise a little bit. The Rams came in with a distinct height advantage with Jackson Ehrlin standing at 6-foot-8 and Dawson Carper towering at 6-foot-11.
They each scored 21 points, more than doing what they needed to offensively, but it was on the other end of the floor that coach J’on St. Clair wasn’t pleased with.
“Our defensive effort has to improve,” he said. “They got more baskets in transition than I anticipated so that’s not very good. They made timely shots and uncontested shots. That’s just poor defense.”
A Jeremiah Pruitt 3-pointer in the fourth quarter increased the Liberty lead to 66-56. The transition defense continued to be a problem as a steal and a fast break gave a Doria a crowd-pleasing dunk.
“I love putting a smile on my teammates’ face,” Doria said. “It felt great.
Rampart would make one last effort to claw back Carper would hit a shot down low, drawing a foul in the process. The made free throw put the Rams within four, but they still struggled defensively.
Kyle Bohuslavsky would sink three clutch free throws at the end and at the final buzzer, the landscape of the Metro League was suddenly a little different.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“At the beginning of the season, we knew what we were capable of,” Doria said. “We knew we were under the radar for a while and we just came out and played some small ball and it feels great knowing we can hang with these teams.”
The Lancers will travel to Pine Creek next before hosting Coronado. Their next big test looms when they see Doherty twice in four days.
And they will see Rampart again on Feb. 7.
The Rams will be ready for the rematch. They have to be ready for the rematch in order to regain hopes of bringing home a league title.
“They have to come to our place,” St. Clair said. “We’ll be ready when they come to our place.”