Undefeated Ralston Valley boys basketball piling up the wins

ARVADA — Ralston Valley’s boys basketball found a way Tuesday night.

The Mustangs (8-0 record) remained undefeated on the season by shaking off a pesky Broomfield squad at Ralston Valley High School. The Eagles actually grabbed a brief 56-55 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Ralston Valley managed to rally to take a 69-64 win.

“We got up and kind of thought we would breakaway, but give credit to Broomfield,” Ralston Valley coach Chris Braketa said. “They have played some really good teams. They are a really good team.”

Ralston Valley is off to one of its best starts in the program’s history. The Mustangs previously longest undefeated run to begin the season was an 11-0 start during the 2010-11 season.

“We try not to think about it,” Ralston Valley senior Tanner Braketa said of the undefeated record. “We try to focus on one day at a time. We’ll stay in the present.”

The senior guard and future University of Northern Colorado product needed to be in the moment in the fourth quarter. Tanner Braketa scored nine of his game-high 23 points in the final quarter to lead the way to the Mustangs’ 8th-straight victory.

“We found a way in the end to get some buckets,” Coach Braketa said.

Broomfield senior Ethan Zufall gave the Eagles (5-5) their first lead at 56-55 with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter. However, a big bucket by junior Samson Wright seconds later gave the lead right back to the Mustangs.

Tanner Braketa had a 3-point play to extend the lead to 60-56 with 2:29 left. The Eagles did tie the game up at 60-60, but junior Frank Psaute buried his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 1:35 left to give the lead to the Mustangs for good.

“Frank has been huge all season,” Tanner Braketa said. “That was a huge shot from Frank and then Caiden making all four of those free throws late was also huge.”

Ralston Valley junior Caiden Braketa was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute to finish with 11 points. Psaute contributed 14 points.

Broomfield was led by seniors Joey Cook (13 points), Grant Schmidt (13 points) and Zufall (11 points).

The Mustangs got off to an impressive start not relying on the Braketa brothers. Senior Hayes Gatlin, junior Zeke Andrews and Psaute combined for four 3-pointers in the first half of the opening quarter to give the Mustangs an early 14-7 lead before Tanner or Caiden even scored.

“It was awesome,” Coach Braketa said of the start of the game. “We shared it well early. Guys got going. It was maybe too good early. We kind of relaxed a little bit.”

Ralston Valley did give up a season-high 64 points. Castle View put up 64 points on the Mustangs in their season opener. The Mustangs hadn’t allowed over 60 points in 6-straight games.

“We just kind of slowed down and didn’t play great defensively,” Tanner Braketa said. “A win is a win and we’ll take it. There was a lot to learn.”

Ralston Valley has one more non-league game before starting 6A Jeffco League play. The Mustangs are on the road at Smoky Hill on Friday, Jan. 10.

“We wanted to play top-10 teams. We wanted to have a really good non-league schedule,” Coach Braketa said about finishing up against Smoky Hill before starting conference play.

The Mustangs open conference play at Bear Creek on Monday, Jan. 13.

The 6A Jeffco League has seven teams it for the current 2-year cycle. Each team in the conference will get 12 league games with home-and-away contests against each squad. Valor Christian (7-2) is attempting to win a third straight 6A Jeffco title. The Eagles are also the defending 6A state champions.