AURORA | Regis Jesuit boys basketball coach Ken Shaw reached another impressive milestone Tuesday when he picked up victory No. 800.
Visiting Highlands Ranch did its best to postpone the achievement as it played the shorthanded Raiders to a 19-19 tie going into halftime, but Regis Jesuit got going in the second half on its way to a 55-36 Continental League victory that made Shaw just the third coach in Colorado boys basketball history with 800 wins.
Shaw joined Denver Christian legend Dick Katte — a 2012 retiree who has 876 wins to his credit — and Denver East’s Rudy Carey, who currently stands at 866. One of the wins Shaw picked up on the way to 800 was an overtime victory over Carey and the Angels Jan. 29, which is a highlight of Regis Jesuit’s 12-6 record.
“It’s the ultimate team achievement,” Shaw told the Sentinel. “You say you have 800 wins, but I didn’t get 800 wins. It’s all the players and coaches that have been part of my journey for 47 years that are a big part of that. This is pretty special. Obviously this necessarily wasn’t a goal of mine, but you have to have some longevity to be able to do this.”
Shaw has coached at five schools on his way to 800 wins, following stops at Yuma and Sterling with stints at Rocky Mountain and in Aurora both with Smoky Hill and Regis Jesuit. He reached the 500-win plateau on Jan. 12, 2007, while at Smoky Hill, but has passed the 600, 700 and now 800 mark while at Regis Jesuit, which he has led to three Class 5A state championships thus far.
The Raiders delivered win No. 700 with a 66-60 victory against Overland on Jan. 5, 2016, and picked up 14 more wins after that in a 22-win campaign. Regis Jesuit won 13 games in 2016-17, 19 in 2017-18, 15 in 2018-19, 13 in 2019-20 and 14 in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
“A lot of former players have reached out to congratulate me,” he said.
Shaw said he still has tremendous love for the game.
“I enjoy the grunt work, which I think a lot of people overlook for coaches,” he said. “The practices, the offseason work and being in the gym with young men that want to get better at the game of basketball are still things I love.”
Regis Jesuit got past Highlands Ranch with help from a 16-point effort from junior TaRea Fulcher and 11 from junior George Bowdouris, while senior Kyle Sandler finished with 12 rebounds.
The Raiders played again without juniors Cole Records (who is out for the season) and Archer VanSickle, who is questionable to return from injury this season.
Shaw is hoping that the experience the bench has gotten in their absence can pay dividends in the postseason after Regis Jesuit finishes off the regular season with league games against Legend, Douglas County and Heritage.
“This year has been an up and down struggle for us with injuries and different things,” Shaw said. “We’re trying to find that consistency and hope that we develop it for the stretch run. Then we’ll see what we can do.”
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Way to go Coach Shaw!