(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
PUEBLO — Pueblo West coach Bobby Tyler has experience with winning a state championship. He, more than most, knows that the defense’s role in the game is far from a cliche. It’s the truth.
In a state championship atmosphere at Massari Arena, he was helpless as he watched Pueblo South’s defense play at a championship level.
After not allowing a single point in the third quarter, the Class 4A No. 2 Colts came away with a 48-31 win over the No. 3 Cyclones.
“It’s crazy, that’s what Tonay (Aragon) said we needed to do at halftime,” Colts forward Marcell Barbee said. “He said we needed to hold them to zero points.”
Ask and the crowd of 3,000-plus on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo shall receive.
Aragon gave South (13-2 overall, 3-0 South Central) a massive momentum swing by hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to go into halftime.
“My teammates have confidence in me shooting,” Aragon said. “I have confidence in myself. They allow me to shoot those shots and without them I couldn’t make that. It was a big swing for us.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Up to that point, it was far from a scoring clinic for either team. The Cyclones (12-3, 2-1) showed early that they were going to struggle from the field. They connected on just six total field goals in the first half and Nieyeme Smeyer-Willimas only scored five points in that span.
Both teams played with the physicality and intensity that made each point all the more valuable. Because when the time comes in the playoffs that’s how one survives and advances.
“It’s like a state championship game,” Tyler said. “You’re not going to see a state championship game that’s 97-84. You just don’t see those anymore. It’s always defense, man.”
Quick South baskets from Barbee and Greyston Aguilera put the Cyclones on their heels early in the third quarter. Knowing the importance of this first matchup in terms of league standings, the Colts pushed on, trying to keep as much pressure on Smeyer-Williams and Pierre Taylor as possible.
“I can’t explain it,” South coach D.J. Johnson said. “I thought we did a really good job communicating defensively and moving our feet. I thought we did a great job in that second half of playing straight up and challenging them.”
While West was in a drought, South started coming alive offensively. Barbee was having trouble successfully attacking the basket in the first two quarters, but helped spark the Colts in the third. He scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the second half.
Aragon quietly added 16, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth that sent the South students into a frenzy.
“He does the right thing. He’s a great hooper,” Barbee said. “He has the smarts for the game and will do whatever it takes to win tonight.”
Smeyer-Williams led the Cyclones with 13 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. The West players filed out of the locker room looking defeated. But they were reminded of something very important after the loss. They don’t practice all year to worry about one game against a league rival.
“The boys talked about that when we got down a bit,” Tyler said. “This isn’t what we’re working towards. We have to get better because of this, but we’re working for something bigger down the road.”
And they’ll always have a chance at redemption. As Tuesday showed, neither school’s gym can contain the amount of interested viewers that this game brings in. The rematch on Feb. 9 will take place at the Event Center on the state fairgrounds, the site of South’s 64-62 win in the 2017 4A Great 8.
And there is no reason to think that the rematch will be every bit as rowdy as Massari Arena was on Tuesday.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)