By Josh Carney Death, taxes, and a Gerber lighting up the scoreboard for Coal Ridge. That seems to be the norm in Garfield County lately.
Junior guard Austin Gerber’s career-high 20 points sparked the Coal Ridge Titans’ boys basketball team to a big 68-57 win Friday evening over the Alamosa Mean Moose inside Chavez-Spencer Gymnasium, propelling the Titans into the championship game of the Demon Invitational Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
The Titans found themselves in a tough battle Friday evening in the third quarter, clinging to a 34-33 lead. A putback layup on a third chance by senior Kevyn Flores sparked the Titans offensively before two early fourth-quarter 3-pointers by Gerber helped the Titans run away from the Mean Moose for good in the 11-point win.
“Kevin’s basket was a huge for us, but [senior] Aarron [Arreola] hitting a mid-range jumper and then Austin with the two 3-pointers was so huge for us in a tight ballgame,” said Paul Harvey, Coal Ridge’s head coach. “We told them if we could stop beating ourselves with silly turnovers and cleaned it up, we’d be alright. They played really smart basketball down the stretch.”
Prior to the swing in momentum in the third quarter, Alamosa and Coal Ridge traded basket after basket in the first quarter with the Moose holding a narrow 18-16 lead after one quarter of play, mainly thanks to two fortunate banked-in 3-pointers by senior Nicholas Brubacher.
The Titans answered with a 9-0 run to start the third quarter as Gerber hit a 3-pointer, senior Payton White stole the ball and hit a layup in transition, and Gerber and senior Jan Hernandez hit two free throws each, giving the Titans a 25-19 lead. A layup late in the quarter by senior Kevin DiMarco stretched Coal Ridge’s lead to 27-21, but a jumper by junior Ian Jackson and a 3-point play in the paint by senior Chad Jackson pulled the Mean Moose to within one at 27-26 heading into the half.
Coming out of the break the Moose started to focus more on DiMarco, who was pushed to the perimeter as Alamosa’s defense collapsed into the paint to stop the big 6-foot-7 center. That didn’t phase the Titans as Gerber hit a 3-pointer to open the second half before DiMarco dunked on Alamosa’s Davis Gonzales off of a screen-and-roll from the left block, giving the Titans a 32-28 lead.
Alamosa briefly took the lead again as junior Brenden Crowther hit a 3-pointer and Ian Jackson hit a layup, but that’s when Flores’ second- and third-effort bucket sparked the Titans. After Flores’ putback, Arreola hit a layup and senior Jeremy Funes hit a 3-pointer, giving the Titans a 39-33 lead. A desperation 3-pointer by Alamosa’s Isaiah Harrell at the third-quarter buzzer made it a 41-38 game in favor of Coal Ridge heading into the fourth quarter of action.
Gerber and Hernandez hit quick 3-pointers for the Titans, stretching the lead to 47-40 before Gerber hit another 3-pointer – his fourth of the game – making it …read more
Via:: Post Independent