No. 2 Fossil Ridge boys basketball flies into 5A Final Four with blowout win over Legacy
DENVER — Steals and long rebounds at one end of the floor turned into easy layups, dunks and kick-out 3-pointers at the other end.
The venue was bigger, and the stakes quite a bit higher.
But the Fossil Ridge High School boys basketball team played no different than it does in its home gym in Fort Collins on Saturday at the Denver Coliseum.
The SaberCats put their frenetic, fast-paced style of play on full display while rolling past Legacy 80-54 in the Great 8 round of the Class 5A state tournament at the Denver Coliseum.
“You can’t really listen to what the fans are saying, what the crowds are saying; you’ve just got to do what you do,” said Fossil Ridge’s Ty Brown, a junior guard who scored a season-high 17 points.
The SaberCats (25-1) did just that while winning their 20th straight game and advancing to the Final Four for the first time in eight years.
No. 2 Fossil Ridge will face No. 3 Chaparral (21-4) next Friday night in a Class 5A semifinal game back at the Denver Coliseum. The winner will play next Saturday night for the state title. Chaparral beat No. 6 Eaglecrest 65-60 in its semifinal game.
“I’ve been watching the Elite 8 or the finals since I was a little kid,” said junior forward Domenic Leone, who led the SaberCats with 18 points. “Me and my friends would come down here, and it’s always been a dream of mine to get down here and play and win a state championship.
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“We’re halfway there.”
Fossil Ridge has never won a state title in boys basketball and has only made it to the title game once, losing the 5A title game in 2013-14 to Denver East.
This year's team, though, is determined to change that.
The SaberCats beat both Denver East and Chaparral early in the season before suffering their lone loss, 81-68 at ThunderRidge on Dec. 11. They’ve rarely been challenged since, winning 15 of their past 20 games by at least 13 points and nine of those by 25 points or more.
Included in that stretch was a 71-39 win Feb. 11 at Legacy, a Front Range League rival.
So No. 26 Legacy (18-9) knew how the SaberCats liked to play going into Saturday’s Great 8 playoff game.
And there was nothing the Lightning could do to stop it.
The SaberCats were on the attack from the start
Fast breaks with one-, two- and even three-man advantages were the norm for Fossil Ridge while shooting an impressive 62% in the first half, getting 17 assists on 18 made baskets.
Leone and center Nick Randall, who finished with 15 points, were scoring in the paint, while Brown, senior Brock Mishak and junior Colin Hayes were hitting short jumpers, floaters and the occasional 3-pointer.
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Leone made an extra pass inside to feed Randall for an early dunk, then slammed one down himself on a breakaway in the third quarter.
“We were trying to get shots at the basket, and we did a great job of our shot selection,” longtime coach Matt Johannsen said. “We didn’t settle for 3s. We passed up a lot 3s to go get great shots, and we did a good job of that.”
Mishak had seven assists to go along with his 15 points and 12 rebounds. Randall finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Fossil Ridge outrebounded Legacy 38-26 and limited the Lightning to 33% shooting in the first half and 39% for the game.
Jack DeBell led Legacy with 16 points, and Ethan Wise had 10.
The SaberCats were firing on all cylinders from start to finish, getting a 3-pointer from Drew Larson and driving layup from Brady Rotner in the final minute after Johannsen cleared his bench.
Playing on the biggest stage there is for high school basketball in Colorado, the SaberCats were in their element, no different than when they scored 56 points in the first half of a win last month over cross-town rival Rocky Mountain.
“That’s when the game gets really fun,” Brown said. “Yeah, the defensive side, it’s great and all getting steals and stuff. But when you’re hitting 3-pointers and getting wide-open layups, it’s amazing.
“There’s no better feeling.”
How they got here: A SaberCat party: No. 2 Fossil Ridge boys roar past Ralston Valley and back into 5A Great 8
For now, at least.
Getting to the state championship game again and winning it this time is the ultimate goal.
The SaberCats took another huge step in that direction Saturday.
“That’s been my goal for my four years here,” Mishak said. “We want to win a state championship.”
Kelly Lyell reports on CSU, high school and other local sports and topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, follow him on Twitter @KellyLyell and find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. If you 're a subscriber, thank you for your support. If not, please consider purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fossil Ridge crushes Legacy to reach Colorado 5A boys basketball Final 4
