Windsor bucks a trend, will take on Green Mountain for 5A boys basketball title

DENVER – Green Mountain officially became the last standing Cinderella team of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament Friday night at the Denver Coliseum.

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It’s awesome,” Green Mountain coach Mike Puccio said as his Rams celebrated with Green Mountain’s student section after the 5A state semifinal win.

Green Mountain defeated Falcon 77-67 in what was the unthinkable 5A Final 4 game featuring the No. 21-seeded Falcons and No. 16-seeded Rams. Green Mountain (18-9 record) will head to the state championship game slated for 7:15 pm Saturday back at the Coliseum.

“It feels amazing. I can’t believe it, but we still have one more,” said Green Mountain senior Simon Lunsford, who poured in 24 points in the Rams 9th-straight victory.

Green Mountain’s previous trip to the Final 4 was over 30 years ago. The Rams lost to Hinkley in the 5A state title game in 1994. The program’s last state championship was in 1992 when the Rams defeated Sierra at the old McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

Even Puccio — a Green Mountain graduate — admitted he didn’t think playing in the title game would have been possible a few months ago. The Rams had a 4-7 record in mid-January and finished third in the 5A/4A Jeffco League.

“I believed in these guys and I knew we had talent. Man, this is an incredible magical run,” Puccio said. “You look at all of these people, fans and alumni. It’s insane.”

The Rams used an 18-0 run in the first half to ballon their lead to 39-23 at halftime. Junior point guard Tre Gutierrez got it all started with a 3-pointer on Green Mountain’s first possession.

“I felt good during warmups,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez was great scoring a season-high 24 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists. The junior came in averaging less than 6 points per game.

“I don’t think any of us expected that,” Lunsford said of Gutierrez dropping his season-high in a state semifinal game. “If he plays like that nobody can stop us.”

Green Mountain’s lead reached the 20-point range in the third quarter when Lunsford poured in a dozen points in the third quarter. Junior Jake Swanson was outstanding with 16 points and nine rebounds for the Rams.

Falcon (18-9) did make it a little interesting in the final quarter. The Falcons went on a quick 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter.

“When the run was made I thought we showed composure,” Puccio said after Falcon cut the Rams’ lead to 62-51. “I’m proud of these guys.

Green Mountain will attempt to become the first Jeffco Public School to win a boys basketball state title since D’Evelyn won the 3A state title in 2004.

“We all came together at the end of the season like we needed to,” Gutierrez said. “Our team is really close. I love all of our guys. It’s a fun time. We are going to try to bring it home tomorrow.”

(6) Windsor 71, (2) Mesa Ridge 62

The third time was the magic charm.

Two years in a row, it was Mesa Ridge knocking Windsor out of the 5A boys basketball tournament. Once was in the semis, and the Grizzlies went on to win their first state title. The second was in the state title game to complete a back-to-back run.

Windsor finally got to return the favor. Fighting and clawing for the better part of the first half, Windsor found itself down six at halftime before finding some offensive rhythm in the third and taking control of the game heading into the fourth quarter.

While the offense, led by Brady Kingsley’s 21 points was crucial, it was the defensive effort that threw Mesa Ridge off schedule.

With maybe his toughest defensive assignment of the year, Tadese Keyworth held Mesa Ridge standout Bryce Riehl to one field goal in the first half. By the time Riehl was able create shot looks, the Grizzlies were in a hole that was too deep to come back from.

“My teammates were locking down the other guys so I was just trying to make him go inside,” Keyworth said. “I forced him to go to his weakness and not his strength.”

Outside of Kingsley, the Wizards had three other players score in figures and were fueled by the previous two postseason losses to the Wizards. Madden Smiley finished the night with 17 points and had a smile on his face very similar to last year after the Final 4. But he knows that the 2025 Wizards get a chance to write a very different story.

“I think having this grit and a chip on our shoulder ultimately helped us,” Smiley said. “It obviously hurts to get knocked out by the same team two years in a row and we knew we were going to have to get them back if we saw them again.”

Windsor has about 24 hours to get its head straight before taking on a more important task than revenge: Capturing the school’s first boys basketball title in 101 years.

“We all wear that 1924 on our shooting shirts,” Keyworth said. “We’ve been looking to that 101-year anniversary. It’s going to be great.”

But the Wizards have to battle through 32 more minutes against a tough Green Mountain team to end that century long drought.

But a win over the Rams would certainly give the Wizards a celebration for the ages.