Ralston Valley claims 6A Jeffco League boys basketball title

ARVADA — Ralston Valley closed out its boys basketball regular season in style Saturday night.

The Mustangs’ 67-47 road victory against rival Arvada West gave Ralston Valley the distinction of Class 6A Jeffco League champions.

“It means a lot. One of our goals was to win league this season,” Ralston Valley senior Tanner Braketa said. “We came out here tonight and got the job done.”

Ralston Valley (21-2, 11-1 in league) and Valor Christian (19-4, 11-1) finished with identical conference records and split the two head-to-head meetings. However, Ralston Valley won the ‘point differential’ over Valor in the two meetings to win the league title.

The Mustangs had a 65-58 win over the Eagles on Jan. 17. Valor took a 60-57 win on Feb. 11.

“It means a lot to the kids,” Ralston Valley coach Chris Braketa said of the Mustangs reclaiming the conference title after Valor won back-to-back league crowns the past two years. “The kids really wanted it. It was one of our little mini goals. Now were are on to that second season and see what happens now.”

A-West (17-6, 8-4) came in riding a 4-game winning streak, but were without starting sophomore guard Cooper Vais due to injury.

On the other hand, Ralston Valley junior Zeke Andrews was back in the Mustangs’ starting line-up after missing the past two games, which included a non-league loss against Mountain Vista on Tuesday.

“Having Zeke back makes a big difference,” Ralston Valley coach Chris Braketa said. “His physical presence in there is huge for us.”

Andrews and fellow junior Samson Wright got the Mustangs going offensively from the inside to start the game. Wright had six points in the first quarter and finished with eight rebounds.

“We were able to get it inside early,” Tanner Braketa said of Wright and Andrews having their way in the paint. “We won the rebounding battle. That was huge. First time we played (A-West) we got destroyed on the boards.”

Andrews finished with a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in his return to the court.

Tanner Braketa spearheaded the Mustangs’ offense in the second and third quarters. The 2-time Jeffco League MVP poured in 19 of his game-high 22 points in the middle two quarters. The younger Braketa brother — junior Caiden Braketa — got going with all 11 points in the second half.

Ralston Valley built its lead to as large as 30 points in the second half. It was much different than the first meeting at Ralston Valley High School where A-West nearly pulled off an unlikely fourth-quarter comeback.

“We have such a veteran group of guys. They knew what they did after the game,” Coach Braketa said of the rash of turnovers in the fourth quarter the first time around against A-West. “We tweaked and fixed somethings. They responded really well to it.”

A-West junior Keegan Balistreri was the only Wildcat in double-digit with 10 points on the night. Senior Jordan Stremel had 9 points on a trio of 3-pointers for A-West.

The Wildcats were No. 15 in the CHSAA Seeding and Selection Index as of late Saturday night. CHSAA will officially release the 40-team 6A tournament bracket on Sunday. If A-West finishes as a top-16 seed the Wildcats would get a first-round bye and host a second-round game on Friday, Feb. 28.

Ralston Valley was No. 4 in the seeding index. The Mustangs will also get a first-round bye and a top-8 seed would allow Ralston Valley to host next Friday and be in position to host a Sweet 16 game on March 4.

“We feel great. We feel like we can beat anyone,” Tanner Braketa said heading into the playoffs next week. “We are ready to see what the bracket looks like tomorrow. We are going to work and try to get any many (playoff) wins as we can.”