Dakota Ridge boys wrap up league title in dramatic fashion

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LITTLETON — Dakota Ridge senior Alex Rodriguez might never hit a bigger 3-pointer on the basketball court in his life.

With Dakota Ridge and D’Evelyn tied at 62-62, the senior guard drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 1.5 seconds left to give Dakota Ridge the dramatic 65-62 victory Feb. 8.

Dakota Ridge sophomore Ethan Berninger, who had a game-high 25 points, drove the lane as the nal seconds ticked down. When three Jaguars converged on Berninger he passed the ball to Rodriguez in the corner.

“ e plan was to get (Berninger) the ball and expect him to make the right basketball play. He did,” Dakota Ridge coach Sean Kovar said. “He hit the open shooter. Alex is a senior guy who has been starting for me since a sophomore. I didn’t expect anything less when he let that one go.”

It was the rst 3-pointer Rodriguez had made all game.

“ e play was drawn up for my guy Ethan to get downhill and get a bucket,” Rodriguez said. “Props to him to have trust in his teammate. It was great vision by him to get us an open shot.”

D’Evelyn (11-9, 7-3 in Class 5A/4A Je co League) had 1.5 seconds to try to muster up a game-tying 3-pointer, but couldn’t get a shot o having to go the length of the court. e victory for Dakota Ridge (17-4, 10-0) ofcially clinched the conference title for the Eagles.

“It means a ton,” Kovar said. “It validates their hard work, validates their unsel shness, validates all the hard work they have given to Dakota Ridge basketball. For them to see the fruits of their labor is so special as a coach. For them to receive that plaque right now gave me goosebumps. It’s the coolest thing.” is is the rst boys basketball conference title for the Eagles since the 2014-15 season when Dakota Ridge won the 5A Je co League title.

“It means a heck of a lot. It means so much to all of our guys,” Rodriguez said of the conference title. “We wanted this so bad, but we aren’t done yet. We have a lot more to do.” e Eagles nished up their league schedule at Pomona on Feb. 10 with a 92-40 win. Dakota Ridge plays two games during Je co’s end-of-season tournament. ose games will be played Feb. 15 and Feb. 17 before the start of the 5A state tournament that begins Wednesday, Feb. 22.

Dakota Ridge — No. 6 in the CHSAANow.com boys basketball rankings — was coming o backto-back losses to 6A powerhouses — No. 1 Mountain Vista and No. 4 Denver East — last week.

“I told our guys we aren’t worried about seeding,” Kovar said of heading into the postseason. “We are worried about being the best team we can be. We want to be battle tested and road tested. ose two games (Denver East and Mountain Vista) were great for us. Tonight was great too. We took some really good punches from D’Evelyn.” e Jaguars went on a 9-0 run in the nal 2 minutes with Vacanti hitting a pair of 3-pointers and a 3-pointer from Olson with 45 seconds left tied things up at 62-62. e Jaguars were sitting at No. 24 in the 4A RPI standings after the loss to

D’Evelyn played extremely tough coming o a rough home loss to Golden last Saturday. Seniors Kellen Olson (18 points), Nick Vacanti (15 points), along with junior Taj Kumar (18 points) led a valiant e ort in an attempt from preventing Dakota Ridge from wrapping up the league title.

D’Evelyn couldn’t avoid a 3-game losing streak when it lost to Green Mountain (14-7, 9-1) on Feb. 10 before its two extra games next week.

Dennis Pleuss is the sports information director for Je co Public Schools. For more Je co coverage, go to CHSAANow.com.