AURORA — Legacy boys basketball dropped down by 15 factors at Regis Jesuit halfway by the third quarter of its Class 5A Candy 16 matchup on Wednesday night time, however that didn’t appear to faze the Lightning an excessive amount of.
Neither did the truth that their No. 26 seed paled compared to Regis’ No. 10 seed. No, they simply wanted to take it one possession at a time, similar to head coach Connor Clay had preached all yr.
Over the ultimate 12 minutes, the Lightning systematically chipped away on the Raiders’ edge. They took the lead again with 5 minutes, 13 seconds left on the clock. It was anyone’s sport from there on out.
With 20 seconds to go, Isaac Ward sunk a extremely contested layup to offer the Lightning an insignificant, two-point lead earlier than the Raiders rapidly rushed to the opposite finish of the court docket.
Legacy acquired the cease and the rebound to pressure a desperation foul from Regis. Jaycee Stelling didn’t waste the chance given to him, sinking each free throws with 7.3 seconds on the clock to place the ultimate nail within the coffin.
Legacy walked away with its second main victory of the postseason alone with a 51-47 remaining rating. Only a few days earlier, it knocked off 7 seed Horizon by seven factors.
“I knew I had it,” Ward, a junior, mentioned. “I’ve taken a layup hundreds of occasions, so it’s computerized. Then Jaycee hit these free throws, that’s when it actually sunk in that, ‘I feel we’ve got this.’ I used to be simply pumped.”
The rise, the tradition that Clay has been constructing over the past 5 years is coming into full focus, a lot to the chagrin of Legacy’s opponents.
Rome wasn’t in-built a day, and neither is a highschool basketball program. This yr, due to relentless work from Clay, Legacy boys hoops’ metropolis infrastructure has a way more stable basis to maintain constructing upon for the long run.
They’re fairly scary proper now as it’s, and all of it goes again to a profitable mentality.
“They fought, they battled they usually by no means actually thought that they had been going to lose down 15,” Clay mentioned. “The proof was there. They anticipated to win the sport and it was simply, actually, to win the following possession.”
Two seasons in the past, the Lightning solely received eight of 16 video games. Final yr, they went 8-6. This yr, the boys have absolutely purchased into that victorious mindset, led by their core group of seniors.
“They’d to purchase in with work,” Clay mentioned. “We haven’t been this far in playoffs. We haven’t had the playoff wins. We’re not a storied program and we simply haven’t had the apparent groups which can be committing to working for 12 months to get there. This group of seniors has performed it for 4 years and that’s form of, actually, the turning level is believing, taking part in fearless and placing in plenty of work.”
5A basketball actually is aware of the Lightning now.
En path to victory on Wednesday night time, junior Bryce Spradling led the Lightning with 13 factors as senior Stelling and Ward had his again with 11 and 10 extra, respectively. The Lightning acquired off to a little bit of a tough begin within the first half, as they struggled to rebound and management their very own possessions.
They had been down by a 40-25 depend even midway by that third body.
That each one modified when Ward stepped onto the court docket towards the tip of the third quarter and netted eight straight factors, six of which got here by old style three-point performs. That singular tangent altered the course of the sport irrevocably into Legacy’s favor, and the Raiders couldn’t quell the tsunami that was headed their approach.
With the win, the Lightning will now advance to the Nice 8 to tackle No. 2 Fossil Ridge, a fellow Entrance Vary League foe who defeated No. 15 Ralston Valley, 74-54, on Wednesday. That matchup, set for Saturday night time on the Denver Coliseum, will showcase simply how far this Legacy staff has are available in Clay’s quick tenure.
“This group has set a brand new normal for Legacy,” Clay mentioned. “The usual has at all times been let’s compete in a league, let’s try to win some video games. Who is aware of what the usual actually was? They’ve created the usual of, we count on to win each sport, we count on to be right here. I feel the younger guys on our staff are proper there with them, so it’s been superior to see. I feel the long run is vibrant.”
