LAFAYETTE — After a riveting two-point victory in its season opener, the Prospect Ridge boys basketball team had since lost four straight games while playing through a buzz-saw stretch of ranked opponents prior to Thursday night.
But the Miners righted the ship at Peak to Peak Charter, overcoming a big first-quarter deficit to beat the Pumas, 55-48.
“This is huge for us because we’ve never beaten Peak to Peak in our school history,” Miners junior Andrew Cuss said. “Obviously, we have a lot of things to work on because I think it was 18-5 in the first quarter. But we came out in the second half with energy and got a huge team win. This is definitely something we can celebrate as a school, but we also have to move on and learn from this.”
On the way to picking up their first 3A Metro League win of the season, the Miners (2-4, 1-3) trailed by four points at halftime. After a strong third quarter, in which they held the Pumas (1-2, 1-2) to nine points, they led 36-34 to start the fourth quarter.
Harley Clark led the Miners with 16 points and scored 10 points in the second half. Cuss, who entered Thursday’s game averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game, scored 13 points.
“We had a slow start and we’re still learning how we need to start games right now,” Miners head coach Scott Iten said. “We’re so young in terms of varsity experience so we just really don’t know what level we have to be at when the game begins. Sometimes it takes us getting up and down the floor a few times before we get motivated and ready to go. That helped in the comeback for sure.”
After winning just three games a year ago, Iten said the Miners have set higher expectations for themselves in Season B. He added that Thursday’s come-from-behind win should help boost the team’s confidence, especially since it is already close to matching last winter’s win total.
“This just springboards us for the rest of the Metro League,” Iten said. “It’s a big win for us because Peak to Peak is a good team. We’re starting to gain the confidence that when we show up, we have the ability to compete with anybody and beat them.”
Samuel Thengvall led Peak to Peak with nine points, Darryk Hall scored eight and Grant Boonstra had seven.
The Pumas will continue their season with a nonleague road matchup at Eaton on Saturday. The Miners will also play a nonconference road game on Saturday when they visit Stargate School.
