January basketball lessons needed to win at the Denver Coliseum

COLORADO SPRINGS – Mountain Vista boys basketball coach Brian Wood has enough playoff experience to understand that there is no one formula for winning games at the Denver Coliseum in March.

Which means being forced to win games in different ways is crucial to any team trying to embark on a journey to claim a state championship.

In an 80-70 win over Doherty on Saturday, the Golden Eagles were forced to win in a way that they haven’t been used to this season, or really at any point over the last 12 months. The 80 points that they put up came primarily from inside the paint or from the free throw line.

Mountain Vista hit just one 3-pointer through the course of the entire game. It came from Carlos Arocho in the third quarter, which was actually when the game started tightening up. In the eight games prior to Saturday, the Golden Eagles (6-3 overall) had made at least six 3-pointers in each game.

“I think we make about nine or 10 in a game [this season],” Wood said. “But we hurt them in the pain and they did a good job on Cal [Baskind]. He got shots, but they were all challenged and we felt like Ollie [Junker] was a pretty good matchup so that was good to see at this point of the season.”

Junker scored a team-high 19 points. Baskind added 11, but the Golden Eagles finished the night with four players in double figures.

At first glance, this Mountain Vista team may not be as talented as a few from years past, but there is doubt that this is a cohesive unit that has several scoring options as well as a lot of role players that won’t hesitate to play defense or fight a rebound.

“That’s not only the kind of basketball we need to be playing, but the kind of basketball we expect from our team,” Junker said. “Last year we were doing that and this year we want to be doing it more.”

Wood claims his team isn’t a high-volume 3-point team, but this is the fewest 3-pointers the Golden Eagles have made since Dec. 1 of last year when they didn’t make any in a 68-66 win over Ralston Valley. It wasn’t just the perimeter defense that was good for the Spartans (1-6). With a full roster for just the second time this year, they came out in the second half in a 3/4 court press that frustrated Mountain Vista, allowing the Spartans to climb back into the game.

“We’ve been working on that,” coach JJ Brimble said. “We did really well with it up in Seattle against some really good teams. The only thing I don’t like is that our depth isn’t there. So can we do it the whole game? Do we have the legs and lungs to do it the whole game?”

Like Mountain Vista figured out they can win without the threat of a solid 3-point shooting night, Doherty is learning exactly who it’s going to be through the course of this season. There is no mistaking that the Spartans have a bona fide dude in Elijah Mack.

He scored a game-high 34 points on Saturday, 26 of which came in the second half.

“He’s good,” Wood said.

Between his performance and the Spartans outscoring Mountain Vista 50-44 in the second half, Doherty is a team that is starting to build some confidence as it heads toward league play.

“I think we’re onto something,” Brimble said. “So it’s onto the next game and once we get over that hump, watch out.”

Just like Wood, Brimble knows that the lessons that lead to wins in March are learned on the cold nights in January.