AURORA | No matter how many times the Regis Jesuit crowd chanted “pres-sure, pres-sure,” Mountain Vista played it cool Tuesday night.
The Golden Eagles remained the only defeated team in Class 5A boys basketball with their 77-73 Continental League victory over the Raiders, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped.
Junior Josh Perkins finished with a game-high 26 points for Regis Jesuit, but went 1-for-3 from the free throw line with 4.4 seconds remaining and his team trailing by three points. Kip Boryla and Devin Kadillak had 11 points each and Bryan Staerkel and Zach Smith added nine apiece for the Raiders (12-4 overall and 3-1 in the Continental League), who lost for the first time since before winter break.
The defeat was also an extremely rare one in Continental League play for coach Ken Shaw, whose team lost its first league ontest since Feb. 4, 2011, when Regis Jesuit dropped a two-point game at Highlands Ranch. The Raiders had won 19 straight league games since then and had lost just one other league contest in the past four seasons combined as they were 43-1 since the start of the 2007-08 season coming into the year.
Elijah Valdez made four 3-pointers in the first quarter to get Mountain Vista off to a strong start and finished with 24 points and four other players had eight or more points for the balanced Golden Eagles (15-0, 4-0).
Valdez’s hot start gave Mountain Vista a lead as large as 17-5 in the first quarter, but the Raiders chipped into the deficit gradually and pulled to within 10 going into the second period. Boryla scored seven points in the quarter to help Regis Jesuit pull even closer.
Cam Beards’ 3-pointer with 2:30 left in the first half gave the Raiders their first lead of the game at 36-34.
A floater to beat the buzzer by Valdez — who had 16 in the first half — sent the Golden Eagles into the break with a 40-38 advantage.
Kadillak’s 3-pointer gave Regis Jesuit a 46-45 lead with 4:57 left in the third quarter, but Mountain Vista went on an 11-2 run to finish the quarter with an eight-point advantage.
The margin was at seven points with 3:05 remaining and prompted the green-clad Golden Eagles crowd to chant “over-rated!” Perkins promptly responded with a driving 3-point play to bring the Raiders back into it.
Mountain Vista managed to build its lead to double figures at 73-63 on Jake Pemberton’s layin with two minutes left, but a layin by Perkins and back-to-back baskets for Boryla tightened it up.
With the margin at just three points with 10 seconds remaining, the Golden Eagles’ Chandler Wiscombe missed a pair of free throws to give the Raiders life. Perkins raced the ball up the floor and was fouled on a 3-point attempt, whipping the Raiders’ faithful into a frenzy.
Perkins was short with his first two free throws, then hit the third after a time out. He then fouled out in a scramble following Jake Pemberton’s missed free throw and Pemberton sealed the game with a free throw with 2.6 seconds left.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
MOUNTAIN VISTA 77, REGIS JESUIT 73
Score by quarters:
Mountain Vista 24 16 16 21 — 77
Regis Jesuit 14 24 10 25 — 73
MOUNTAIN VISTA (77)
Amir Qadri 1 0-0 2, Chandler Wiscombe 5 5-8 15, Jake Pemberton 4 5-6 14, Elijah Valdez 7 6-8 24, Mitch Carter 2 3-4 8, Graham Smith 3 0-0 6, Damani Respass 2 4-5 8, David Sewell 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 23-31 77.
REGIS JESUIT (73)
Josh Perkins 7 11-16 26, Eric Stemper 0 0-0 0, Bryan Staerkel 3 2-2 9, Devin Kadillak 4 2-2 11, Kip Boryla 4 3-4 11, Zach Smith 3 0-2 9, Cam Beards 2 2-2 7. Elijah Sanford 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 20-28 73.
3-point field goals — Mountain Vista (6): Elijah Sanford 4, Mitch Carter, Jake Pemberton; Regis Jesuit (7): Zach Smith 3, Cam Beards, Devin Kadillak, Josh Perkins, Bryan Staerkel. Total fouls — Mountain Vista 27, Regis Jesuit 24. Fouled out — Mountain Vista: Carter; Regis Jesuit: Perkins, Kip Boryla. Technical fouls — None.
