Warriors Whip Struggling Spartans

DENVER—The Montbello Warriors (20-2, 7-0) outmanned, outgunned and outplayed Thomas Jefferson (15-7, 3-4) at TJ on Tuesday to win by a final score of 60-44.  If tonight’s game were an exam, neither team would have earned an A, but Montbello’s B- was better than TJ’s C.
 
Montbello coach David Carey said, “It was tough to come back down off the emotional high of Saturday, after winning the big game (against Denver East).  But we figured it out at half.  We just gotta go inside.  If we’re bigger than somebody, we gotta utilize our size.  Go inside and keep going inside.  And we did that.”

The Warriors needed some help figuring it out, because at halftime the Spartans had played them to a 24-24 tie.  Leading the way for the Spartans was senior forward Billy Sprague who had seven points and three rebounds in the first quarter.

The game really turned around in the third quarter when the Warriors tightened the defensive screws.  In the third frame, Montbello outscored TJ 19-6.  “(Montbello) made some smart adjustments, said TJ coach Grant Laman. “They boarded inside, where they had a huge height advantage in that third quarter. We took their punch and didn’t get knocked out, but then we were steady playing 10 points behind.

Keying the defensive effort in the third quarter were actually some of the Warriors’ smaller players.  Besides junior point guard Isaiah Cooper’s three steals in the quarter, seldom used senior Cameron Coles came off the bench to quietly intensify the play on the court.

Coles is generously listed at 5’7” but was able to contain the bigger TJ guards.  Coles contributed on the other end too.  As the game entered the middle part of the fourth quarter Coles sank two mid-range jumpers which is 1/3 of his point production for the season.  The Montbello crowd cheered enthusiastically as Coles was removed shortly after.

Isaiah Cooper was very sharp in setting the pace and finished with 16 points.  Azlan Williams played solid defense, and contributed a 12 points.  DeAndre Clayton maintained a cool head despite the calls not going his way, and had 10 points and seven rebounds. Warriors’ assistant coach Rick Carey told Roderick Taylor that his 16 points and five rebounds was all “big boy stuff.”

Montbello has now captured the Denver Prep League title, and won 10 games in a row, including three consecutive against second place East, third place Lincoln, and fourth place Thomas Jefferson.  

The Spartans have dropped four in a row after a 12 game winning streak spanning both their league and non-league schedule.  Noticeably missing from the Spartans lineup was leading scorer and resident high flyer Ray Riley. Riley was suited up but did not enter the game, and Laman did not elaborate on the star guard’s absence.

Both teams finish the regular season on Friday.  On Sunday, the squads will learn their placements in their respective playoff brackets.  The Denver Post/9News 5A poll currently has Montbello ranked fourth in 5A, and Thomas Jefferson fourth in 4A.

Contact the writer at csilverman@milehighhoops.com