CLASS 4A BOYS:
Longmont wins first title since 1942.
Luke Johnson was a freshman in 2015 when Longmont arrived at the Class 4A state title game, one victory away from a perfect season.
He was key reserve as a sophomore one year later when Longmont was on the doorstep of earning another trip to the championship game.
Both of the those experiences ended in heartbreak. The 2015 team lost in stunning fashion in the championship game to Air Academy. The 2016 team fell in the semifinals after squandering a late lead over Valor Christian.
Johnson promised himself that if he was ever again in position to win a state championship, he wasn’t going to let his team lose.
“I knew inside that I wanted to get back here, and I wanted to finish it,” the senior guard said. “Not only for me, but for Coach (Jeff) Kloster. He deserved it more than anybody.”
Johnson on Saturday pulled from every lesson he learned during a decorated high school career, guiding Longmont to a 62-59 victory over hard-charging Lewis-palmer in the 4A state championship game at the Denver Coliseum.
It was the first state championship in boys basketball for Longmont since 1942, and it came only after Lewis-palmer had stormed back from a 15-point deficit to tie the game in the final minutes. But the Trojans prevailed, giving Kloster his first state title in his 24th season at Longmont.
“I’m so proud of these young men,” Kloster said. “The bottom line is that we had guys who came to practice every day and worked their tails off. They believed in each other and they lived the moment.”
Johnson was nearly unstoppable for much of the game, scoring a team-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting. But true to form for a team that collected the trophy after beginning the tournament as a fifth seed, the Trojans needed contributions from every player.
Longmont led 48-33 entering the fourth quarter, but forward Joel Scott (game-high 25 points) led the Rangers all the way back. His steal and coast-to-coast layup with less than a minute remaining tied the game at 59-59.
“We had a hard time matching up with him inside,” Kloster said of Scott.
Lewis-palmer, after tying the game late, knew the Trojans would look for Johnson. But the Rangers successfully blanketed the senior guard on Longmont’s final possession.
So guard Brady Renck saw an opening and burst toward the middle of the key. After Renck scooted past his defender, the Rangers had no choice but to collapse toward the middle. That’s when Renck spotted reserve guard Oakley Dehning coming open on the perimeter.
Dehning, who averaged 4.7 points per game this season, caught the on-target pass, lined up the biggest shot of his life and watched it splash through the net to give Longmont a 62-59 lead with 19 seconds remaining. Lewis-palmer’s last-ditch chance to tie the game, a well-guarded 3- point attempt from guard Matthew Ragsdale (13 points), was off the mark.
“I’m a role player on this team and my role just happened to be to hit a shot right there,” Dehning said. “It just happened to go in. Back in the backyard shooting on the portable hoop, it’s always been a dream. I can’t even describe the feeling right now.”