Battle of the heavyweights

Vista boys hold o Rock Canyon 62-52

BY ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

is one had all the best ingredients: the top two boys basketball teams in the state of Colorado, rivalry, history, talent and over a thousand fans squeezed in tight, ready to take it all in.

And what a show it was.

Inside a lively, raucous, standingroom-only Mountain Vista gym on Feb. 2, the host Golden Eagles, ranked No. 2 in Colorado, welcomed their friends from down the road and the state’s top-ranked squad — the Rock Canyon Jaguars.

When the curtain had dropped on the 32-minute duel, the state’s No. 1 had also been dropped as Vista rode big performances from seniors Radek Homer and Caden Stevens to a 62-52 win, snapping Canyon’s 15game winning streak in the process.

“It was crazy,” the 6-foot-9 Stevens, who scored a game-high 22 points and blocked nine shots, said of the atmosphere inside the building. “I love playing against Canyon because their student section always shows out and our student section always shows out. It was great.”

Added Homer, who had 21 points of his own: “It’s always a huge crowd whenever we play Canyon. It’s always a big game.”

Big play after big play had the gym seemingly ready to burst — whether it was Stevens smothering a Jaguar’s shot, or Homer slithering past defenders and scoring on one of his poetic layups, or Canyon’s Gavin

Hershberger, one of the best players in Colorado, putting down eight points in the blink of an eye to cut Vista’s lead to one point late in the second quarter.

But no other moment brought the house down quite like Stevens’ alleyoop dunk with 1 minute, 24 seconds to go in the game. e emphatic jam stretched the Golden Eagles’ lead to 57-47 and essentially squeezed the last bit of life out of the Jaguars.

“ ey were pretty hard to handle,” fourth-year Vista coach Brian Wood said of Homer and Stevens. “We ask a lot of them. ey’re both incredible on both ends of the court.”

It was surely a satisfying win for the Golden Eagles (who also beat the Jaguars 52-51 on Dec. 3 in a nonleague tournament game). Last year, Canyon ended Vista’s season in the Class 5A state playo s, winning

57-56 in a Sweet 16 thriller. e 2023 state tournament is only a few weeks away, and there’s a very good chance these two teams haven’t seen the last of each other. “I hope we see them again,” Stevens said. “ ey’re really good. ey’re always super fun to play against.”

Playing fast and inducing early turnovers out of the Jaguars, Vista (16-2, 6-0 6A/5A Continental League) attempted twice as many shots as the visitors in the opening quarter. e Golden Eagles led 15-9 after the rst 8 minutes, forcing Canyon (17-2, 5-1) to play from behind — though not from too far behind — the rest of the night.

Hershberger’s stop-and-pop 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining in the rst half — moments after burying a separate trey and scoring on a