Fairview Wears Down Grandview

DENVER—The matchup between the Grandview Wolves and the Fairview Knights was highly anticipated and for three out of four quarters it was evenly matched. For the Wolves, this game had one too many periods, and Fairview prevailed, 72-54.

Grandview played a physical first half and took a three point lead into the break. But the Wolves let up on Fairview just long enough for Darragh O’Neill and the Knights to bust the game wide open.

After an impressive win over top seeded Montbello the Wolves began Friday’s game with great inside shooting and a couple of powerful dunks by Chris Martin. Grandview quickly jumped out to an 11-4 lead. As the quarter ended the Knights had clawed their way back but the Wolves stayed ahead 18-14.

Both teams continued to work inside offensively while struggling from outside. Grandview knocked down a few jumpers as the quarter went on and increased their lead behind Kevin Gausman’s 14 first half points. The Wolves were hanging on to a 25-18 with 4:42 seconds remaining in the half.

After a Fairview timeout O’Neill, as he has often done this season, ignited his team. Dribbling to his right he drove past two defenders and put the ball high on the glass for two. On Grandview’s next possession he batted the ball away and grabbed the ball before he was fouled. It was the Wolves seventh team foul and O’Neill hit both one and one free throws to narrow Grandview’s lead to 25-22.

Grandview would not surrender the momentum and pushed the lead back to seven with 1:35 left in the half with a Gausman three point basket.

Fairview was fortunate in the last minute as they capitalized on two steals. Michael Melillo, who finished with 12, had his most impressive basket to end the half as he streaked down the court and dribbled behind his back, through a defender and laid it up to cut the score to 35-32 Grandview at halftime.

“It was huge going down only three,” said Fairview coach Frank Lee. “It was close to going down seven and we got two big steals at the end of the half to make a three point game. I think it extenuated what we thought we had to do, which was defend better in the second half.”

It was only fitting that O’Neill would set the tone for Fairview’s breakout third quarter. In the first possession of the second half after Fairview had gone 0-7 from three-point range O’Neill dribbled down the right side and sank the first shot to tie the game at 35 apiece.

It was all Knights from that point on.

The Knights made five consecutive three-point attempts en route to a 51-40 lead with 3:00 remaining in the quarter, and Fairview began to wear down the Wolves on both ends of the court.

The made three-pointers also created open looks inside. “It was definitely affecting their defense,” O’Neill said. “They were starting to get fatigued in that third and we just started stepping up. They started dropping off from us and they just couldn’t really keep up. Inside and outside we just killed them.”

The Wolves shot selection down the stretch was questionable as they attempted to come back. “We felt an urgency or a rush on our offensive end and we didn’t get as good of shots,” said Grandview coach Gary Childress.

Grandview continued to play hard defense but offensively they were stifled by the quickness of Fairview and the lead began to rattle the Wolves. Defensively they got into foul trouble late in the quarter as they committed their sixth team foul compared to Fairview’s two.

 “Holy cow!” said Childress when asked about the team foul discrepancy in the second half, “I’ve never seen it turn as much as it turned. I was amazed. That’s all I can say.”

By the end of three quarters Fairview had a comfortable 55-40 lead.

Grandview never gave up but they could not answer Fairview’s intensity. Gausman, who finished with 19 points, continued to score for the Wolves, but it was not enough to mount a comeback.

Fairview’s Shane and Darragh O’Neill, Craig Saltarelli and Oldham continued to take charges, dive for loose balls and take foul after foul without wincing. Lee foreshadowed his team’s resilient spirit saying in pre-game, “They may go on a 10-0 run and we just need to withstand it.” After the game he smiled and said, “Our kids just withstood and fortunately our streak just came at the end.”

Grandview began to answer Fairview basket for basket midway through the fourth but it was too late. Less than a minute after O’Neill’s 35th point Fairview had beaten Grandview and had moved on to the Final Four for the second straight season.

Melillo and the Knights still have last year’s loss in the semifinals on their minds as they set their sites on Aurora Central. “Oh we are really confident that we can beat them,” he said.  “We want to get to the championship and win it. (Experience) is going to help a lot because we know how it feels to get to the Final Four and lose, and we don’t want to feel that again. We’re trying to win a championship.”

Checkout the updated brackets.

Contact the writer at scowhick@milehighhoops.com