(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Cheyenne Mountain coach Elgin Fitzgerald issued Harrison a challenge. If the 3-pointers fall, the Panthers had a chance.
But they didn’t. And Cheyenne Mountain allowed next to nothing to convert inside as the No. 30 Indians came away with a 65-41 win in the first round of the Class 4A state boys basketball tournament.
“We knew that they were really good at driving to the basket,” Fitzgerald said. “They have really quick guards and we knew we had to keep them in front of us. Our game plan was to make them knock down some outside shots. They did, but I think they were colder than I think they have been recently.”
As a team, No. 35 Harrison (12-12 overall) could only knock down five shots from behind the arc. And with Cheyenne Mountain forward Luke Martin dominating down low defensively, the Panthers mustered a season-low 41 points in their first playoff game since 2011.
“Their length kind of bothered us,” Harrison coach Orlando Sanchez said. “I give all the credit to (Cheyenne Mountain). They played a good, smart game. They took us out of ours and we couldn’t run. I’m proud of Cheyenne Mountain.”
Offensively, the Indians (9-15) were calm, cool and collected. They built a 25-17 lead at halftime and when the Panthers came out pressing to start the third quarter, there was no worry or panic.
They kept finding themselves in position to knock down shots or make their way to the free throw line. Will Louis, who led all scorers with 20, sank two free throws to push the lead to 35-20. Nicholas Bassett followed that up with a 3-pointer from the corner, forcing a Harrison timeout and sending the Cheyenne Mountain students into a frenzy.
“Nobody in school thought we were going to win this,” Louis said. “It’s nice to get this win. We kind of prepared for (their press). A lot of teams in our league run that diamond press which is a 1-2-2 matchup. Lewis-Palmer runs it, Vista Ridge runs it, so we’ve seen it all year.”
And without the scoring numbers that the Panthers were used to getting from Orlando Westbrook and Quinzel Harding, it proved to be too difficult to claw back into the game.
But as Sanchez walked out of the locker room, he took pride in getting a team that hadn’t known how to succeed since 2011 into a postseason bracket.
“They weren’t well-coached for a lot of years,” Sanchez said. “There was a lot of turnaround for these young men. For them to fight the way they did, I’m so proud of my seniors especially, the way they fought and the way they stuck together.”
It was a momentous occasion for Cheyenne Mountain as well. The school hasn’t made the playoffs since the Indians reached the 4A Final 4 in 2014. To get back into the playoffs and to get the win is something this team will never forget.
“We’re still really young,” Ryan Wallis said. “We’re still just juniors and sophomores so we’ll look to make another run next year.”
Not that they’re counting on this year ending soon. Everyone in the Cheyenne Mountain area knows the story of the semifinal run three years ago.
Fitzgerald is looking forward to seeing his guys start a brand new chapter in the school’s basketball history books.
“We have a young team and a ton of youth in the program,” he said. “We’ve had to battle some injuries and some other things this year so the next guy has had to step up. We have plenty of guys who are ready to step up next year and the year after that.”