D’Evelyn boys basketball survives late 3-point flurry by Bear Creek

LAKEWOOD — A pair of 3-pointers in the span of the final 8 seconds by Bear Creek’s boys basketball team left everyone staring up at the scoreboard doing math in their heads after the final buzzer Monday night.

Despite a 3-pointer by Bear Creek senior Jovan Petrovic, an imminent steal by senior Michael Reyna and ensuing 3-pointer by junior Jacob Williams at the buzzer, D’Evelyn escaped with a 64-63 road victory in the wild ending.’

“The boys were resilient,” D’Evelyn coach Greg Scheckenbach said. “We have to learn how to finish games. We didn’t have too many games like this last year. We were blown out mostly. It’s nice to learn how to finish a game.”

The Jaguars (3-1 record) trailed Bear Creek by a score of 51-47 to start the fourth quarter. The Bears (1-1) began the second half with a 10-0 run to take a 44-38. However, D’Evelyn had a carbon-copy to start the fourth quarter with its own 10-0 run.

“We got some good breaks in the fourth quarter to get that 10-0 run,” Scheckenbach said. “Then we were able to hold them off.”

D’Evelyn did go cold for nearly a 4-minute span after the 10-0 outburst, but junior Kai Burmeister buried a huge 3-pointer with 1:05 left in the fourth quarter to push the Jaguars’ lead to 60-55.

“I just got the ball and put it up,” Burmeister said of his corner 3-pointer that ended the scoring drought for the Jaguars. “When it went in I was so happy. It felt really great.”

Burmeister had a breakaway layup after steal with 45 seconds left to get the lead to 62-55. The junior finished with a team-high 13 points. Senior Clinton Kessey (12 points) and junior Ben Goman (11 points) also finished in double-digits for the Jaguars.

“Kai is a great soccer play. He was gone this weekend for our game working on his recruiting stuff,” Scheckenbach said. “He came in here tonight and didn’t miss a beat. I’m really happy for him.”

Burmeister was actually named the 4A Jeffco League boys soccer MVP this past Fall season.

Goman made a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left to extend the lead to 64-55. Bear Creek played to the end. Senior Matt Hegerle scored with 13 seconds left to cut the lead to 64-57.

“It got a little tight at the end,” Scheckenbach said.

A bad inbound pass gave the ball back to Bear Creek that allowed the Bears to hit back-to-back 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough as the Jaguars escaped with the 1-point victory.

“It feels amazing,” Scheckenbach said of the Jaguars’ 3-1 start this season after a dismal 1-22 record a season ago. “We returned everybody this year. We had a really good offseason and worked really hard. That really pays off.”

Bear Creek and D’Evelyn could actually face each other again this week. Both are playing in the Chatfield/Heritage Tournament that runs Dec. 10, 11 and 13. The Bears and Jaguars are on the opposite side of the 8-team bracket, but there is a chance the two could face off against Saturday.

“I’m really excited to get a win like this,” Scheckenbach said of the victory over Bear Creek. “They beat us twice last year. It was a bit of a revenge. I really like Pete (Bear Creek coach Pete Spiessbach) and how he runs his program. Plus we are both Mullen grads.”

Bear Creek seniors Caelo Sandoval (17 points) and Hegerle (16 points) led the way for the Bears in their first loss after a 34-point victory over Castle View in their opener last week. Junior Manny Ruiz also pitched in 10 points in the loss.

D’Evelyn opens the tournament at Chatfield High School against Heritage at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Bear Creek has the 6 p.m. slot and will face Mead.