Mead boys basketball needed just two hiccups to right the ship in a season filled with impressive victories.
Its 59-43 win over Class 5A’s No. 9 Longmont on Saturday night was just another feather in its cap to forget a couple of heartbreakers to 4A’s top-ranked Holy Family and 5A’s No. 7 Windsor last week.
Mead employed a high-intensity, blockade style of basketball that the Northern Colorado Athletic Conference has become accustomed to from the fourth-ranked Mavericks, and the Trojans — despite collecting a few recent upset victories themselves — couldn’t keep pace.
“We kind of weathered the storm early,” Mead head coach Darin Reese said. “This can be a tough environment to play in and I think the tough environments we’ve been in and tight games we’ve been in really helped us withstand some of their runs and go on a run. We really extended that run in the second half and I couldn’t be more proud of their energy and efforts.”
Several Mavericks stepped up to the challenge as senior Nick Basson took the reins of his offense with 16 points, mostly behind the arc. Senior shooting guard Tucker Mills, returning from injury, added 13 more as junior Donovan Weese netted another 10. For Longmont, senior shooting guard Kaden Rose claimed 13 points, followed by junior point guard Cole Corner and senior shooting guard Reese Pearson, who added 10 apiece.
“You’ve got to give Mead a lot of credit, they’re well coached and they moved, they attacked, and they shared the ball. We talked about how out of 55 possessions, 35 possessions were two or less passes. And you can’t do that,” Longmont head coach Jeff Kloster said. “We’re always talking about (how) you can’t play hero ball. I felt that we as a team, we were trying to make plays. And instead of creating for others, we were just trying to create for ourselves.”
Longmont began the contest pressuring the Mavericks well, forcing coach Reese to burn a timeout early. That short stoppage gave them the fuel they needed to overcome their jitters and swing the momentum in their favor.
The teams kept play close throughout the rest of the first half, but Mead always held the edge before leading 27-19 at the break. A strong surge from Rose and Corner at the start of the third quarter very nearly gave the Trojans the advantage once again, but they couldn’t quite turn the tides fully in their favor. A 32-28 score was too close for comfort for the Mavericks.
An 8-2 run to close out the quarter shifted the ball irrevocably back to Mead’s court as the Mavericks succeeded in putting their recent two-game skid behind them.
“I think we got a lot of talent just everywhere,” Basson said. “Even on people coming off the bench, everyone’s talented, they all play their role, and we’re all playing our role. We come together as one and when we play as a team, we will finish.”
Mead improved to 13-3 and 5-2 in the NCAC with the win as Longmont, which had previously enjoyed a six-game winning streak, fell to 12-5 and 6-2.
Next, Mead will head back home to host a 5-11 Greeley West team on Wednesday as Longmont visits Windsor on the same night.
“We kind of came together as a team after the (last) Mead game and really fought and played as a fist instead of five fingers,” Rose said. “We just got to do that again, after losing and just to come together because at the end of the day, we’re all a family.”
