Lutheran wins in OT to advance to Final Four

Lions survive thanks to Speckman’s big shots late

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

With time running out on the Lutheran boys basketball team’s season, Kade Speckman corralled the ball, spun and banked it home — twice — to keep the Lions’ year and state-championship hopes alive.

e two clutch shots by the freshman came on back-to-back possessions in the closing moments of regulation to force overtime against Alamosa in the Great 8 round of the Class 4A state playo s March 3 at the Denver Coliseum.

en, in the extra period, Braydon Jacob splashed a momentum-seizing 3-pointer and the Lions came up with some big stops down the stretch to win 65-56 over the Mean Moose.

Lutheran, the No. 6 seed in the 32-team bracket, will now face second-seeded Resurrection Christian in a Final Four game March 9 at the Coliseum. Resurrection toppled e Classical Academy 68-44 in another of the Great 8 games to advance.

“It happened to be our day,” said Lutheran coach Bill Brandsma, who shepherded the Lions to the Class 3A state crown in 2021 and a state runnerup nish in 2018. “Every run I’ve been a part of has been comprised of a bit of luck, needing to execute and a whole lot of adversity. And so far, we’re making it work.”

Against No. 3 Alamosa, adversity struck for the Lions late in the fourth quarter, when their three-point lead midway through the period turned into a four-point de cit with 55 seconds left.

Out of a timeout, the Lions got the ball to the 6-foot-8 Speckman, who whirled and kissed it o the glass and in to narrow Alamosa’s lead to 50-48 with 45 ticks remaining.

On Alamosa’s ensuing possession and with the Mean Moose in the bonus, Luke Christensen was fouled on a non-shooting sequence but missed his attempt from the charity stripe. e Lions vacuumed in the rebound and Brandsma called another timeout with 28 seconds showing on the clock.

After an inbounds pass from Brendan Koolenga to Lalo Gonzalez, the Lions worked the ball around the arc before nding Speckman down low once again. And, just like he had done moments before, the freshman swiveled, jumped and, with defenders’ arms in his face, laid it in, knotting the score at 50-50 with 8 seconds to go.

Alamosa had a chance to end it in regulation, but Kade Jones’ runner from the elbow at the buzzer missed left.

“Every day in practice, we work on post moves and those types of shots,” Speckman said of the two catchand-turn shots he hit late. “Working on those situations in practice really helped us to be prepared for that in- whole rst half, Ranch (22-4 overall) watched as the Wolves (17-9) went on a 9-0 run to take a 41-34 lead in the closing moments of the quarter. pull it out,” said Baker, who scored a team-high 17 points and had four rebounds and six assists. e turning point in the game came in the third quarter. After leading the game situation.”

Baker’s pull-up jumper from the left elbow at the buzzer stopped the bleeding, but Yi answered with a triple to begin the fourth quarter and give Grandview its largest lead of the game at 44-36.

Said Brandsma of the closing moments of regulation: “[ e day before the game], we worked in practice on being down by four points with 1:15 left. So, what was going through my mind was, ‘ e boys have been here before. ey understand how much time is left. We don’t have to have a 3 right here. We can come down, we need to execute and then we need to get a stop.’ And they did.”

In overtime, with nearly half of the extra period gone and the game tied at 52-52, Jacob buried a 3-pointer from the right wing — a huge shot in a huge moment. e game never felt the same and the Mean Moose never looked the same from that point on.

Lutheran outscored Alamosa 10-4 the rest of the way and induced three turnovers out of the Mean Moose in the nal 1:05 to seal the win.

“I had con dence. I knew that was going to be in,” Jacobs said of his overtime triple, one of four 3-pointers — a game-high — on the afternoon for the

“We got a little stagnant on o ense and missed a few shots and [Betts] went to work in the paint,” Jarocki said of the last few minutes of the third quarter.

Groth scored 14 points for Ranch and hauled in eight rebounds. e Falcons’ other scorers were Isabella Shumpert (nine), Simonich (six), Kniyah Dumas (four) and Bailey Wil- junior. “I like that right wing.”

Of Jacobs’ big trey in overtime, Brandsma said: “He’s a very special player. I wouldn’t want the ball being launched from the 3-point line by anybody else. For him to do it in that moment was huge.”

Alamosa (21-4 overall), content to play at a slower pace early on, outshot the Lions 48% (12-for-25) to 39% (10for-26) in the rst two quarters to take a 31-28 halftime lead.

Over a 6:35 span that covered a small chunk of the rst quarter and more than half of the second period, the Mean Moose outscored Lutheran 20-5 to take a 29-20 lead — the largest lead of the game by either team. e game took a turn in the second half, however, when Brandsma decided to dial up the pressure on Alamosa using a halfcourt trap press. e Lions (18-8) forced Alamosa into 10 secondhalf turnovers and scored eight points o those turnovers.

“ ey were getting really comfortable and getting clean looks,” Brandsma said of the Mean Moose in the rst half. “We worked on [the pressure we applied in the second half] throughout the week. roughout the year, we’ve tried to change up the tempo on teams. It’s always a little bit of a gamble, but it happened to work.”

Jacob scored a game-high 19 points for the Lions. Gonzalez (12) and Tucker Monroe (10) also scored in double gures. Speckman (eight), Koolenga (seven), Hunter Caldwell (six) and MJ Rottinghaus (three) rounded out the scoring for the Lions.

Lutheran will now turn its attention to Resurrection, which beat the Lions 61-55 on Jan. 14 in a nonleague game.

Brandsma knows it’ll be a sti test but believes his squad is up to the challenge.

“Resurrection was preseason No. 1. I had them preseason No. 1,” he said. “ ey’re a dang good team. ey’re incredibly well-coached. It’s going to be fun.” liamson (three). e Falcons could very well make a run in next year’s state tournament as only two players on this year’s roster will be lost to graduation.

“I’m excited for next year,” said Baker, only a sophomore. “Hopefully we come back and go even further in the tournament, but this year was great. I’m so glad we made it to the Elite 8.”

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