Eaglecrest’s state championship became written in the stars on Jan. 3, when Ant Nettles made his Raptors debut after the senior guard sat out the first half of the season as a result of his transfer from Douglas County.
The Raptors didn’t lose since that moment, ripping off 19 straight victories that culminated in a thrilling 65-63 Class 6A boys basketball championship victory over Valor Christian on Saturday at Denver Coliseum.
Along the way, Eaglecrest won four times in OT, including an improbable comeback over Mountain Vista in the Final Four. And then the Raptors erased a six-point deficit late in the third quarter, using a total team effort to nullify the star power of a 35-point, 10-rebound performance by Valor Christian point guard Cole Scherer.
“We’ve had a lot of close games and we’ve been behind (during the streak), but we’ve won every time,” Eaglecrest head coach Jarris Krapcha said. “Our guys have been there before, and they knew we had to stay tied together when we’re playing other good teams. They knew there was going to be adversity… but because of our history this season, they believed we could win.”
Nettles led Eaglecrest with 14 points, while senior center Garrett Barger had 12 points and senior guard Jason Noone had 11. Lucas Kalimba had nine points and four rebounds, while fellow senior forward La’quince York had nine rebounds and six points. And sophomore guard Kris Coleman, tasked with keeping the lid on Scherer in the second half, also had eight points as the Raptors got key contributions in key moments across their roster.
Not a bad prep career capper for Nettles, whose primary role for the Raptors while he was ineligible was to be a scout team player in practice who emulated the upcoming opponent’s top scorer.
“I was devastated (by having to sit out), but we got through it,” Nettles said. “I just put my head down, went to work, waited for my time.”
While Nettles’ playoff breakout proved golden, the Raptors’ bench also outscored Valor Christian’s bench 16-0, and smart team defense kept Scherer from exploding in the second half.
It’s not often a 35-point effort by one player deserves defensive praise, but Saturday’s game was an exception as Scherer was again the main catalyst driving the Eagles’ offense with help from senior forward Brady Wynja’s double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds).
“(Senior) Gavin Gallegos started on Cole, and he’s got the length, moves good laterally and he’s pretty athletic,” Krapcha said. “But we wanted to put multiple bodies on him because it’s a lot of work to guard him. They’re going to send him off many down screens, staggers, zoom-actions.
“They do such a good job of getting movement and getting the ball back in his hands. It wasn’t really one guy, because we were switching screens, too. Cole played great. He’s the best scorer in the state for a reason.”
A series of runs swung the momentum back-and-forth early in the game.
Eaglecrest jumped out to an 8-2 lead and was ahead 18-12 early in the second quarter, but Valor Christian went on a 10-0 push to take its first lead of the game. The Raptors retaliated with an 11-1 run of their own to re-assert control and take a 29-23 lead into halftime. At the break, Barger & Co. were dominating inside, with a 20-6 advantage in points in the paint, while the Eagles shot just 32% from the field.
But in the third, Valor Christian regained the momentum. They opened the second half on a 10-4 spurt, and took a 46-41 lead into the fourth. Eaglecrest’s offense finally found its rhythm, and the Raptors (26-2, Centennial League champions) got enough stops to re-take the lead for good on a Nettles 3 with 5:08 to play.
Down the stretch, Eaglecrest struggled at the free throw line — the Raptors finished 20 of 34 there — and committed some head-scratching fouls. Plus, Coleman found out with 2:20 left, removing a prominent defensive presence from the floor.
But the Raptors got a pair of free throws from York, three more from Nettles and five clutch strokes by Noone in the last 33 seconds to ice it.
“I felt confident stepping to the line,” Noone said. “Me and my dad, we used to watch the Coliseum games when I was growing up and see kids miss free throw after free throw. So me and my dad, we’ve had me preparing for this my whole life. I was ready.
“My dad would always have me make 20 free throws in a row after every practice, and I wouldn’t leave the gym until I did it. I was shaking (on Saturday), but it was all muscle memory.”
The win marks Eaglecrest’s third title (also 2013 and ’17 under previous head coach John Olander) in its fourth championship appearance overall, and third in the last decade.
Krapcha, who took over for Olander in ’18, noted his team was able to reset mentally after both an uneven performance against Rocky Mountain in the playoff opener and then the dramatic last-second comeback against Mountain Vista in the Final Four.
“They got to school on Friday, and everyone’s patting them on the back about how awesome the game (against Mountain Vista) was,” Krapcha said. “I told them in the weight room on Friday it was a great moment, it was a lot of fun. … But it’s over. Now we’ve got to win the next one.”
The Raptors did just that, a triumph that Krapcha argues should put the Raptors in the conversation of perennial big-school boys heavyweights. Eaglecrest doesn’t yet have the same pedigree as programs like Denver East (12 titles, most recently ’23) or ThunderRidge (4, ’22).
But the Raptors, who lost in last year’s Final Four and have made Coliseum trips four of the last five years, are getting there.
“We’ve continued something consistent that’s already built (under Olander),” Krapcha said. “Why can’t we be in the conversation?”
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