DENVER | The Vista PEAK Prep boys basketball team defended as they had all season to reach Thursday afternoon’s Class 5A state semifinals, but it would be the offense that stopped its breakout season.
The second-seeded Bison committed a turnover inside the final five seconds with a chance to tie or go-ahead and finished with a season-low in points in an agonizing 35-32 loss to third-seeded Windsor at Denver Coliseum.
Coach Keenon Clement’s Vista PEAK Prep rallied from a double-digit deficit in the first half against a Windsor team it defeated in the regular season by 17 points and forged a tie with 3 minutes, 45 seconds, remaining, but didn’t score again.
The Wizards milked most of that time off the clock, converted a go-ahead layup with 9.6 seconds left and held on to advance to Saturday’s 5A state championship game against the winner of the afternoon semifinal between No. 1 Northfield and No. 4 Mesa Ridge.
Vista PEAK Prep — which made its first-ever trips to the Great 8 and Final Four — finished the season 22-5.
Senior James Brown III had eight points, senior Javon Lowman seven and seniors Julian Carrizales and Alante Monroe-Elazier five apiece, but the Bison scored 20 fewer points than their previous season-low of 52 points. A partial contributor to that was a 6-for-14 performance from the free throw line.
It was a tough offensive opening half for the Vista PEAK Prep, which had just 15 points going into halftime. The Bison — who had a number of one-shot possession and were unable to dominate the boards as they did in their Great 8 win over Ponderosa — did pull back six points from what had been an 11-point deficit to give themselves a chance.
Lowman had five points in the third quarter, after which Vista PEAK Prep trailed by just four at 29-25.
Brown III scored the first five points for the Bison in the fourth and it was tied at 30-30 as senior Kyree Polk began to block shots and pressure defense began to cause issues for Windsor.
The Wizards’ Madden Smiley — who finished with a game-high 12 points — flipped a shot over the 6-foot-10 Polk to break the initial tie, but another one was created at 32-32 on the first and only basket of the game by Polk, who had 17 in the previous game.
Twice, Vista PEAK Prep got stops on subsequent possession, but a missed 3-pointer by Carrizales and a forced jump ball (possession to Windsor) kept it tied. The Wizards milked a minute and a half off the clock and used two time outs before an inbounds play resulted in an open layup for Smiley.
Windsor had three fouls to give and used two of them to help take more time off the clock on Vista PEAK Prep’s final possession. With 6.2 seconds left, a pass came to a cutting Carrizales, who the trailing official ruled stepped out of bounds for a turnover.
The Wizards made a free throw with 2.3 seconds left and the Bison threw up a desperation shot that fell short.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 5A BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
(3) WINDSOR 35, (2) VISTA PEAK PREP 32
Score by quarters:
Windsor 10 9 10 6 — 35
Vista PEAK Prep 5 10 10 7 — 32
WINDSOR (35)
Tadese Keyworth 3 0-0 7, Madden Smiley 4 3-4 12, Henry Jones 1 0-0 2, John Backhaus 3 0-0 7, Jonathan Reed 1 0-0 3, Brady Kingsley 1 1-2 4, Deacon Schmitt 0 0-0 0, Gavyn Helm 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 4-6 35.
VISTA PEAK PREP (32)
Julian Carrizales 2 0-0 5, Javon Lowman 3 0-0 7, Alante Monroe-Elazier 2 1-2 5, James Brown III 2 4-6 8, Kyree Polk 1 0-4 2, Larry Mosley 1 1-2 3, Mitchell Oliver 1 0-0 2, Savon Alexander 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 6-14 32.
3-point field goals — Windsor (5): John Backhaus, Tadese Keyworth, Brady Kingsley, Johnathan Reed, Madden Smith. Vista PEAK Prep (2): Julian Carriales, Javon Lowman. Total fouls — Windsor 13, Vista PEAK Prep 10. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.
