Boulder Breezes Past Rocky Mountain In Front Range Showdown

Boulder guard Riley Grabau drives past a Rocky Mountain defender during the Panthers' win against the Lobos Tuesday night.

Photo by Mike Laughlin, Mile High Hoops

FORT COLLINS—With fourth place in the Front Range League on the line, the Boulder and Rocky Mountain boy’s basketball teams (both 5-2 in the league) squared off in Fort Collins Tuesday night.

Thanks to some hot shooting early and some cool nerves in the fourth quarter, Boulder came out with the win, 86-66.

For three quarters it looked like Boulder was going to blow the doors off the gym and get out of town without a challenge. But it wouldn’t be that easy.

“We played great for 28 minutes in this game,” Boulder head coach Alan Schultz said. “But for four minutes in the beginning to the middle of the fourth quarter, it seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”

Boulder came out on fire to start the game, posting 29 first-quarter points and knocking down nine three-pointers in the opening half.

The Panthers raced up and down the floor, appearing to be one gear ahead of the Rocky players.

“We knew they could run and shoot too, just like us,” Boulder junior Andre Rieder said. “If they want to run and shoot, that’s good. We’ll put up lots of points.”

Rieder was one of six Panthers who scored in double figures, not out of the ordinary for a team that averages more than 70 points per game this season.

“The way we have been shooting it, I think we would have a chance against just about any team in the state,” Rieder said.

Rieder and his teammates were cruising into the fourth quarter, when, with 7:35 remaining, the bench exploded as guard Riley Grabau knocked down a three-pointer while being fouled and converted the four-point-play.

The play put Boulder ahead, 70-51.

However, something spurred the Rocky players to turn up the intensity from that point forward.

The Lobos began to press in the backcourt, forced a few turnovers, and went on a 15-2 run to close the score to 72-66, sending the Rocky students into a frenzy.

But that was as close as the Lobos would get.

As if the Boulder players took a collective deep breath, the Panthers began to knock down their free throws, and Rieder led Boulder through the final three minutes as the Panthers scored the final 14 points of the game.

“We took a timeout and I told the guys that Andre and Min (Sung) needed to handle the ball,” Schultz said. “When Andre heard that he got so excited. It was really neat to see him step up like that.”

Sung led the team with 19 points, 18 coming on six three-pointers, and Grabau added 16.

Senior Chris Feller had a solid game for the Lobos in the loss, scoring 25 points and going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Junior Zack LeVett added 21 as Rocky fell to 13-7 on the year.

Boulder, improved to 12-7, and Schultz said the team is optimistic heading into the final weeks of the season.

“We’re so much better than we were two months ago,” he said. “We may not have won this game two months ago… And with only one starter returning from last year (Rieter), we’re light years from where we were.”

Contact the writer at mlaughlin@milehighhoops.com