Creek Rises after Second Half Deluge

The Boulder Creek Jaugars rose to the occasion Friday night, winning a much anticipated contest on the road against region rival Mountain Ridge by a final score of 71-60. Going into this game there was quite a bit of excitement on both sides as the game had significant ramifications for bragging rights in the Northwest region standings. A large and raucous crowd was on hand to witness the contest and the game delivered on the pre-game hype. The Jaguars started out a bit tentative and uncharacteristically turned the ball over in the first half. The Mountain Lions put an athletic team on the floor and they contested the Jags throughout the game. When the buzzer sounded ending the second quarter the Jags headed to the locker room with a slim three point lead at 27-24.

After intermission, and some coaching adjustments, Boulder Creek came out on fire in the third quarter and were able to impose their will in the second half, scoring an impressive 44 points after the break. The well balanced Jags were able to take advantage of some match up situations and displayed excellent ball movement to locate the open man and exploit those advantages in the final two quarters. Defensively the Jags applied constant pressure and once again showcased almost telepathic team defense. Offensively the Jags found their missing rhythm and the flood gates opened. The slim half time lead ballooned to as much as 19 in the second half and Boulder Creek was able to coast to the final buzzer. The well balanced Jaguar attack was led by Ryan Crane (20 points, 3 assists, 5 three pointers), Alex Dyukhuizen (18 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists) and Josh Braun (12 points, 3 rebounds). Point guard Ryan Zettle (6 points, 5 assists), and sophomore Weston Newell (8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists) were active all night and hounded the opposing guards on the defensive end of the court. Junior Joe Simpson (4 points, 2 rebounds) and reserves Cort Watson, Jake Hunt, Benji Rutan and Ryan Benn also provided Boulder Creek with energy and valuable contributions during the contest.

At 21-2 for the season and 11-0 in the Northwest Region Boulder Creek finds themselves in an enviable position at this point in their season. They have 3 regular season games left and barring an upset they should enter the playoffs ranked in the top two of Class 5A. If that happens they are likely to play a couple of playoff games in the friendly confines of the Jaguar gymnasium. Boulder Creek returns home for regular season games on Tuesday and Friday of next week before visiting Valley Vista on Feb 16th. The team is looking forward to finishing strong and their short term goal is to run the table and enter the playoffs at 24-2