Class 3A boys basketball wasn’t ready for the havoc Centauri would wreak on it during the postseason last year.
After earning the No. 5 seed for the state tournament, the Falcons systematically knocked out opponent after opponent, including top-seeded St. Mary’s, to play their way into the championship game. There, they fell 50-40 to No. 3 Aspen, earning runner-up hardware in the process for the third time since 1994.
Junior guard Chaz Holman credited the team’s tough defense to those stunning performances, especially in that second to last matchup against St. Mary’s.
“I just think it was that no matter what the score was we always gave it our 100%,” he said. “I remember in the semifinals last year, we were down by 12 against St. Mary’s at halftime. In the halftime, no one was down thinking we were going to lose this game. We were all playing ready to go win it. And I think it was just the mindset to us.”
The experience, unprecedented for the current group of boys, set the tone for the offseason as they worked to maintain that level of success on the court. They’ll have to make up for lost talent, however, including Baron Holman (17 points per game) and Mason Claunch (10.1 points per game).
“We lost three seniors but two all-state players, which is quite a bit,” head coach Larry Mortensen said. “This is a different team. But we returned eight players. These two guys have been in two state tournaments already and into a state championship, so we’re pretty confident but we worked hard in the offseason. We’re really excited to get after it and it’ll be a collective effort.
The Falcons will now look to Chaz Holman and junior center/forward Kaleb Anderson, who averaged 9.5 points per game and 6.2 points per game, respectively. They’re hoping the team’s collectively strong rebounding performance, which peaked at 30.3 boards per game last year, will carry them forward early in 2022.
After all, this small-town team believes it has something to prove against some of the squads that hail from larger communities or private schools.
“We just had such a great mentality on the team, a lot of unselfishness, a lot of good basketball,” Anderson said.