Longmont Survives Sierra
By Matt Langley
www.BasketballColorado.com
3/13/2014
Boulder, CO – The last two games of the state tournament have been anything but cake walks for the Longmont Trojans. Valor Christian took them to the brink of elimination in the Great 8, then the Sierra Stallions gave them all they could handle at the Coors Events Center during the second game of the 4A semi-finals Friday night.
Scoring was at a premium in the game as both teams locked up in a half court man to man defense during the first quarter. Both teams were patient on the offensive end of the floor but struggled to get shots to fall and neither team was able to gain an advantage on the offensive glass. Sierra was able to gain an early lead 8-6 after a three pointer by Tevion Thompson. That seemed to waken Longmont junior Justinian Jessup. Jessup scored five points in less than 15 seconds to give the Trojans a 11-8 lead. The final 20 seconds summed up the first quarter for the Stallions.
Solid looks but unable to get the shot to fall. Longmont lead at the end of the first quarter 13-10.
Longmont switched to a 1-3-1 defense in the 2nd quarter and was sparked to 6-0 run, with Kevin Mitchell scoring four points. The Stallions took a timeout and then went on to score the next eight points over the next four minutes of the game. Longmont committed five turnovers in the quarter and seemed to lose a bit of focus thanks to the Stallions tough defense. The Stallions though trailed Longmont 22-18 at halftime.
Sierra forced Longmont into four more turnovers and out scored the Trojans 14-11 in the quarter. Longmont was able to keep the Stallions from breaking by limiting the shots the Stallions took to just 11 and out rebounding them.
The fourth quarter was not the prettiest quarter of basketball. Longmont held Sierra to only four points in the quarter while only able to muster 10 points themselves. Eight of the ten came from Jessup including the game’s last six points. It was clear that Jessup was going to control the final minutes of the game for Longmont. Meanwhile Sierra simply could not get the rebound or the puts packs to fall.
Longmont advances 43-36 to face Air Academy Saturday 3/14 at 6:00 in the 4A state championship at the Coors Events Center.
