FORT COLLINS — Basketball, in the modern era, is played above the rim. So it doesn’t hurt when your team is literally closer to the basket.
Montbello, boasting eight players who stand between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-10, looks like a Division I team. The Warriors are not only tall, but have otherworldly length giving them the ability to close down passing lanes, dominate the glass, and physically manhandle and frustrate opponents. They are not a typical six seed in the Class 5A state tournament.
On Saturday, Montbello (18-7) seemed to take on the role of favorites despite traveling to face a No. 3 seed, Fort Collins, the Front Range league champions and winners of 17 games.
The Denver Prep power used all that length, to go with obvious athleticism, to take an early lead, gain control of the game much of the way, and fend off a late Lambkin rally to preserve a 45-42 victory
The Warriors clinched a spot in the Sweet 16 against No. 2 Mountain Vista in the Bill Weimar Region. Montbello beat Vista 81-78 on Jan. 12 in a wild rally.
Against Collins, the Warriors didn’t have the most crisp offense, but fed off a defense that held the Lambkins to a 13-of-40 clip from the field.
They took a 12-9 lead at the end of one quarter and led 24-16 at the break in a game that was closer than it felt.
Fort Collins big man Tristan Von Nieda, a towering force at 6-foot-9 and more than 220 pounds, was called upon to keep his team in the game early. He had 12 of the Lambkins’ 16 points in the first half. Going against the massive frontline of the Warriors, Von Nieda found some success drawing fouls on the bigs and went four of four at the charity stripe.
“We play man pretty good, but we couldn’t do anything with the big guy,” Montbello coach Ron Bush said. “We started to get into ticky-tack foul trouble, so we went to the matchup and took him out of the game.”
(Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
Montbello smothered the Lambkins with a zone that allowed virtually no passes into the post in the second half. Von Nieda only attempted one field goal after the break and finished with 14 points total. Collins needed offense from other sources. They got it in Henry Deeter.
The senior guard, who came off the bench, closed his career in style with a life giving 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer to cut the deficit to 35-29. Then, he drained another with 5:05 remaining in the fourth to cut it down to 37-34. He drained one more with 1:20 on the clock to put a scare into Montbello as they led by a slim 41-39 margin.
A wild finish ensued as an Andrew Pfaffinger triple cut the deficit to one with 13 seconds left. But, a pair of Aaris Bonds free throws sealed the deal and finally finished off the home team.
Montbello’s smothering defense showed the team’s potential. A late scare displayed their room for improvement going forward.
“It was mental breakdowns, because we didn’t get to the shooters,” Bush said of Fort Collins’ comeback attempt that fell just short. “We got lackadaisical. Offensively, we got a little too patient. I wanted some motion, but I also wanted to attack. We lost our composure.”
Nonetheless, in the survive and advance season, the Warriors did just that. During a regular season that was both eye opening with wins over the likes of Mountain Vista, Fossil Ridge, and Rock Canyon but also at times frustrating with a three-game losing streak, Montbello knows their greatest strength could keep carrying them further into the postseason.
“My coach is always telling us that defense leads to offense,” said junior guard Sekou Cisse, who led all scorers with 15 points. “If we get stops on defense, that will just make our offense go. We’re the most athletic team in the state and if we just do our jobs on defense, we can be a dominant team and win the whole thing.”
Fort Collins, who has lost in the second round each of the last two years, saw their season end on a sour note, but Deeter and company were proud of what they accomplished overall.
“That was a good season,” Deeter (11 points) said. “We were maybe underrated this year. We won the Front Range. I wish we had gotten that one, but that’s a good team though.”