An upset victory for the Fruita Monument boys basketball team against Montrose was just out of reach Tuesday night.
Whether it was a potential buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, a questionable shooting foul, or a loose ball that was nearly recovered for what would have been an early score, the game just didn’t go the Wildcats’ way in their 52-48 league-opening loss Tuesday night.
“We’re getting close. We’re seeing some great things happen but we’re also seeing things happen where we’re down early in the game,” coach Jake Higuera said. “We are making strides, we are moving forward. We just gotta try to put a complete game together.”
The game started poorly for Fruita (5-8, 0-1 5A/4A Southwestern League). The Wildcats were down 18-7 at the end of the first quarter and 30-19 entering halftime.
A switch flipped as the beginning of the second half as Fruita scored 16 third-quarter points — including a 12-4 run that featured seven consecutive points by the Wildcats.
Two big pieces to that turnaround were Skylar Johnson and Daniel Thomason. Johnson, a senior, is one of the better shooters on the team and scored a team-high 12 points. Whenever Montrose keyed in on Johnson, Thomason would take over.
Thomason is just a freshman but he towers over most on the court and can drive to the basket and block shots as good as most.
He had 11 points in the loss and was key to keeping his team in the game. Late in the third, Thomason hit a hook shot that would have made Kareem Abdul-Jabbar proud to make it a 42-35 game. But Montrose’s Luke Hutto responded on the other end of the court with a dunk, and Fruita missed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
“这是一个巨大的变化从中学。电动汽车eryone is here to compete and win, and they’re out to get you. But the senior leadership on our team is great and has helped a lot,” Thomason said. “Tonight was tough. I think we need to work on playing a complete game and not coming out so slow to start.”
Peyton Mack also scored 11 points for the Wildcats.
Montrose (14-0, 1-0 SWL) was led by Hutto and Fletcher Cheezum.
Both Hutto, who surpassed the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season and is committed to play at Fort Lewis College, and Cheezum both had 18 points.
Hutto lives in the post and the Fruita defense shut that down early, forcing him to take more jumpers and drive to the basket. Despite having one of his highest-scoring games of the season, he wasn’t satisfied.
“I think it was closer than it should have been. We had some missed shots and played sloppy on defense, but it’s always hard to come in and win at Fruita when it’s so loud,” Hutto said. “But I live for those moments, and I dream about being in that position.”
这场胜利给ea蒙特罗斯一会儿回来rth, as well.
Being undefeated means you have a target on your back, and 12 of Montrose’s wins have been by 15-plus points.
“In the locker room afterward, it almost felt like we lost. Defensively, we got stops when we needed to. Offensively, we played well in the first half but not the second. Fruita didn’t shoot well but they played defense well and rebounded really well,” Montrose coach Ryan Voehringer said. “They’re a lot better than their record and we’ve been in a lot of blowouts this year, so we needed this game.”
大结41岁的中心39:Wonde Yao-Clay scored 14 points to lift the Tigers past the Warriors.
Yao-Clay scored 11 of his points in the second quarter to help Grand Junction (11-5, 2-0 SWL) take a 23-19 lead. Central outscored the Tigers 20-18 in the second half but fell short.
The Warriors (4-8, 0-1) lived at the 3-point line, with seven of their 12 baskets coming from behind the arc. Christian Miller and Raef Carter both scored nine points for Central, with all of Miller’s points coming on 3-pointers.
