LITTLETON — Arvada West junior Kaden Kline accomplished a rare feat Thursday during the opening round of the Charger Challenge boys basketball tournament at Chatfield High School.
Kline came off the bench late in the first quarter and preceded to drain four 3-pointers in a span of 80 seconds. Each long-range shot came right in front of Prairie View’s bench.
“That was not a fluke,” A-West coach Jeff Parriott said of Kline’s remarkable 80 seconds of putting up a dozen points. “If he has that opportunity 10 times he would do it 9 times out of 10. He is really a good shooter when they give him space. He is instant offense for sure.”
Kline finished with a game-high 20 points, including six 3-pointers as the Wildcats dominated the Thunderhawks 71-26.
“He (Kline) was amazing,” A-West senior Carson Nichols said. “We have so much confidence in him. He shows it in practice and in games all the time. You’ve got to get the ball to him in those spots.”
A-West (4-2 record) led from start to finish. Kline’s outburst of 3-pointers pushed the Wildcats’ lead to 24-2 early in the second quarter.
Despite a running clock in the fourth quarter due to a 30-point margin, A-West put up a season-high 71 points. Kline (20 points), Nichols (14 points) and senior Jasper Padia (16 points) all finished in double-digits.
“I think the offense came from the defense,” Nichols said. “We have a lot of fast brake layups. We were running around getting steals and making things happen. It was a total team effort. Things seemed easy.”
Prairie View (3-3) was held to single-digit points in every quarter except the third when the Thunderhawks put up 10 points. They finished with only 10 made fields goals in the entire game.
“I thought our kids played really well,” Parriott said after the by far the biggest margin of victory for the Wildcats this season. “I thought defensively we were really good.”
Nine different Wildcats scored as Parriott was able to go deep into his bench.
“For us to be really good we have to complement those two (Nichols and Padia),” Parriott said of his two leading scorers. “We know what we are going to get from those two. We’ve got to have three or four more guys provide offense if we are going to beat some good teams.”
A-West returns to the court at Chatfield High School for the winner bracket’s semifinals on Friday. The Wildcats face Cherokee Trail at 6 p.m. The Cougars (1-3) picked up their first win of the season with a 61-51 victory over Heritage in the first of four games Thursday night.
“We started off well and we have to keep it going for these three days,” Nichols said. “We want two or three wins.”