LONGMONT — The grin on Kevin Mitchell’s face said it all.
The Longmont sophomore wanted to say a bit more about what an accomplishment it was for the Longmont boys basketball team to shut Skyline out in the second quarter of their game Saturday, but he decided to be civil.
“It means a lot, but I bet it means a lot to our coaches,” Mitchell, just a sophomore, said after a 65-31 city rivalry win. “(Assistant) coach (Doug) Johnson always says, initiate the set and that’s exactly what we did. That’s our expectation every night.”
Should Mitchell have chosen to gloat a little bit, the evidence of Longmont’s dominance in the quarter was palpable. Already up 20-14 in a packed Skyline gym, the Trojans (16-3) were stingy defensively and getting lots of scrumptious looks on offense.
Mitchell feasted in the short span of time, scoring six of his 10 points, and Austin Kemp also added six points to help an 18-0 run in the quarter, extending the lead to 38-14 by half.
Skyline managed to attempt just five shots, all 3-point chances, and even missed two chances at the free throw line to at least get on the board.
It quickly soured what was a good start in front of a packed house at SHS. Like the girls game immediately preceding, Longmont led the entire way, but Skyline played solid in the chase-down role early on.
Down 12-2 at one point, the Falcons cut it to 18-14 with a picturesque drive and finish from Luciano Quesada.
Once Longmont changed defenses, Skyline struggled mightily and never recovered.
“They went to the 1-3-1 and we just did not handle it well … we didn’t handle that zone, and the score turned and our kids panicked a little,” said Skyline coach Jason Johnson, whose team dropped to 6-13. “We haven’t seen a lot of that. We put a lot of focus into our league games this week, so we did not work a whole lot on it. We’ll have to prepare ourselves better for it next time.”
“That’s one of our best defenses, and we go hard at it,” Mitchell said. “I wasn’t surprised at the way they came out, but we came out with some good intensity.”
The big lead allowed Longmont to play a load of reserves, and 10 different Trojans scored points. Justinian Jessup led the team with 16 points, and Kemp added 12.
“The chemistry is really good right now, and we’re just moving the ball really well,” Jessup said. “The defense is playing great, and we’re getting out in transition. … Just playing good team basketball.”
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Longmont 65, Skyline 31
At Skyline HS
LONGMONT (16-3)
Brett Sterkel 1 0-0 3, Justinian Jessup 5 5-5 16, David Speidel 1 0-0 3, Austin Kemp 5 2-2 12, Kolton Bachman 4 1-2 9, Clint Sigg 2 0-0 4, Blake O’Grady 0 0-2 0, Kevin Mitchell 3 4-4 10, Tanner Wilkey 2 0-0 4, Miles Rivera 0 2-2 2, Ryan Rulon 0 2-2 2. Totals 23 16-19 65.
SKYLINE (6-13)
Luciano Quesada 1 2-2 4, Isaiah Jude Lucero 1 0-0 2, Marquis Harrison 2 0-1 5, Aaron Soriano 0 0-1 0, Dominic Mansanares 1 2-4 4, Manny Torrez 2 1-2 5, Justin Forsyth 1 2-2 5, Josh Angstead 0 0-1 0, Damain Galaz 1 4-5 6. Totals 9 11-18 31.
Score by quarters:
Longmont 20 18 17 10 — 65
Skyline 14 0 6 11 — 31
3-point field goals — Longmont (3): Sterkel, Jessup, Speidel; Skyline (2): Harrison, Forsyth. Technical fouls — Longmont bench, Skyline bench.
