Rocky Mountain Rallies Over Mullen

DENVER—On Tuesday evening, in gyms across the state, the CHSAA 5A Boys State Tournament got under way. At Mullen High School the 7th seeded Mustangs hosted 10th seed Rocky Mountain of Fort Collins. In a game of two halves, the Rocky Mountain Lobos shot 25-28 free throws in the fourth quarter to win 68-57.

The winner of the game was going to be the team which controlled the pace. Early on, Mullen was able to slow things down and out-execute the Lobos.  After the first quarter the Mustangs had doubled up on Rocky, 16-8.

The second quarter was only 2:55 seconds old when the fire alarm blared and whistled. During the 25 minute alarm, the entire gym was evacuated and the fire department called in.  

“On the bus (during the delay), that was our spark of intensity,” said junior Ty Traufield. “We just decided to bring it back.  We didn’t come out to a good start at all. Coach just pumped us up, and right when Michael Hoppal came in we just started picking up the intensity.”

As it turned out, the fire trucks were too early.  It wasn’t until junior fire-starter Michael Hoppal entered the game, that Rocky Mountain really caught fire.

“Second half, Michael Hoppal turned the game completely around,” said Rocky Mountain coach Bruce Dick.  “Number 14.  Defensively he turned the game around. He got the game a lot faster.”

In the first half the Lobos managed a measly 15 points. No player was interested in penetrating, and the Mullen guards Ryan Elges and Malcolm Whye, were able to pick steals from the predictable passing lanes.

The second half found the smaller Rocky Mountain squad in full attack mode. Senior Nate Crabtree worked hard off of the ball to find open shooting areas and started his scoring with six field goals including four three-pointers.

When Crabtree started wooing the Mullen defenders farther from the rim, he attacked off the dribble. In the fourth quarter, Crabtree fearlessly challenged Mullen defenders at the rim, earning eight free throws and hitting them all.

Crabtree described his mindset, “Once I saw that we were in the bonus, I was just gonna try and attack because I know that’s easy free points. I was pretty confident in myself that I wanted to get to the line and ice the game for us.”

Free throws proved to be a vital ingredient in the Lobos victory. After zero free throw attempts through the first three quarters, the Lobos went to the charity stripe 28 times in the fourth, hitting 25 of the shots.

Rocky Mountain traveled down with a small but mighty contingent of parents and fans. When the momentum shifted to Rocky, the Rocky student section swung the atmosphere in the gym from Mullen feeling confident, to Mullen feeling the pressure.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Mullen guard Malcolm Whye. “They started hitting all their shots. Man, thats pressure—hitting them under pressure.  Credit to them.”

Up next for Rocky is second seeded Chatfield who finished as Jeffco regular season champion. The Lobos will have their hands full against the much taller Chargers.

Check out the updated brackets.

Contact the writer at csilverman@milehighhoops.com