LAKEWOOD — Steamboat Springs senior Kellen Adams made the two biggest free throws of his life Saturday night at Green Mountain High School.
With 11.9 seconds left in the Class 4A boys basketball second-round state tournament game Adams stepped up to the free-throw line for a one-and-one. The No. 23-seeded Steamboat Springs had its once 19-point lead trimmed to a single point — 49-48.
“I just wanted to be calm. We practice free throws a lot,” Adams said of his mindset stepping to the line with the game on the line. “I want the ball in the end. I like the noise on those free throws.”
The Sailors (15-9 record) had missed on its two previous one-and-one from the line, but Adams made both to give Steamboat Springs a 51-48 lead against No. 10 Green Mountain.
The Rams got up a pair of 3-pointers on the final possession of the game. Senior Luke Davis got off a good look from the top of the key, but the shot rattled off the rim. Junior Jon Lord got the rebound for the Rams and scrambled out to the corner to get off an off-balanced desperation shot, but it also missed the mark as the buzzer sounded.
“We came out tight,” Green Mountain coach Mike Puccio admitted after Steamboat Springs led from start to finish to take the 51-48 victory. “We got beat on the glass again and all our previous four of our losses we got beat on the glass. When we lose the glass, we lose the game.”
Steamboat Springs got off to an early lead and never looked back. The Sailors had a balanced offensive attack with four players score eight points or more.
Senior Parker Lindquist led the way with 11 points, including three 3-pointers in the first half. Adams finished with 10 points and his sophomore brother Brady Adams had eight points. Senior Ben Bogan had some big buckets down low and finished with eight points.
The Sailors led 45-26 will less than a minute to go in the third quarter. However, Green Mountain (18-5) had a furious 20-point fourth quarter than nearly overtook the Sailors.
“We did kind of splinter a little bit,” Adams said of Green Mountain’s remarkable rally where the Rams outscored the Sailors 22-6 to finish the game. “We were always pretty calm and supportive of each other. We knew we weren’t going to lose the lead.”
Steamboat Springs never did give up the lead and advance to the Sweet 16 where the Sailors will face No. 7 Centaurus on Wednesday, March 2.
“We had a rough part of the early season. I was injured,” Adams said.
Adams in fact didn’t play until after Winter Break for the Sailors. Steamboat Springs started out the season with a 2-4 record, including back-to-back losses to 4A Jeffco’s Golden and D’Evelyn in the Preview Classic Tournament.
Senior Corbin Jantzer scored a game-high 16 points for the Rams. Senior Cooper Francy finished with a dozen points in his final game in a Rams’ jersey.
“To be honest I just want to focus on these seniors. They did a hell of a job,” Puccio said. “We have a great program going. This is going to be a tough group to lose. All seven of our seniors were special in their own way.”