Boulder Creek finishes 2nd in Horizon tourney
Marc Buckhout ~ Managing Editor ~ 12/23/2009

The frustration was evident after coming up just short in a hard-fought Horizon Invitational Tournament championship game Saturday night.
While the sting of a 71-67 loss was present short-term, following a back and forth physical battle, the Jaguars (8-2) will head into the post-Christmas portion of their schedule feeling pretty solid about what they’re capable of accomplishing in 2010.
“I’m really excited about what we can do,” senior guard Ryan Crane following a 19-point effort in the championship game. “We keep working hard and we’ve got a great coaching staff. As long as we keep listening to them we’ll get where we need to be. That was the toughest team we’ve played so far and we definitely had a chance to win.”
Fellow senior Alex Dykhuizen, who joined Crane on the all-tournament team, shared his teammates optimism after scoring a team-high 20 points.
“I think it was a really good tournament for us,” he said. “We’d like to walk away from it with the championship, but we’re a young team so this just helped us build confidence.”
After advancing to the championship game by pouncing on their first two opponents, building solid advantages by the half against both Greenway and Deer Valley the Jaguars saw a matchup zone from the Eagles frustrate them early in the title game.
Following a 2 – of –12 shooting first quarter the Jaguars were on the short end of an 11-4 score.
“I’m proud of our effort,” Boulder Creek coach Randy Walker said. “The difference I think was they just made more shots. We got good shots, but we didn’t make as many as we needed to both from the field and at the line.”
Despite the sluggish start the Jaguars clawed back into the game with their defense.
Using a full court press in the second quarter Boulder Creek forced Scottsdale Christian into eight second quarter turnovers.
“That’s our style,” Crane said. “Anytime we can push the tempo it helps us.”
While that may be the case the Jaguars got into foul trouble with Dykhuizen and fellow starters, junior point guard Ryan Zettle and sophomore Weston Newell all picking up two quick fouls in the first half.
“We did have to battle some foul trouble and that probably did affect how much we pressed,” Walker said. “They were calling it tight. It’s just something you have to adjust to.”
Doing a better job getting the ball inside, the Jaguars put up 25 points in the second quarter to pull within one at the half, trailing 30-29 at the break.
In the third quarter Crane caught fire, connecting on all three of his three point attempts, as his third of the period gave Boulder Creek a momentary lead at 44-43.
It would be short lived though as Eagles senior guard Chase Crookham responded with a three of his own to keep Scottsdale Christian on top as the game went to the fourth quarter with the 2A power clinging to a 46-44 advantage.
Zettle, who played a tough game defensively, consistently hounding the Eagles point guard, opened the fourth quarter with a steal, earning a trip to the line when he was fouled attempting to score on the other end.
The junior came up empty though, missing both free throws, a problem that would prove the team’s undoing as the Jaguars made only 4- of –10 free throws in the second half and just 12 –of – 22 for the game as compared to a 23 – of –32 night at the charity stripe by Scottsdale Christian.
Game-high scorer Hayden Johnson, who finished with 25 points, responded with a runner in the lane and then a three pointer from the corner to extend Scottsdale Christian’s lead during an 8-2 run.
From there the Jaguars would play catchup. Going to the full court pressure they forced enough turnovers and hit enough three pointers, with Crane, Dykhuizen and Zettle connecting, to keep Boulder Creek’s hopes alive.
Crane’s triple, his fourth of the half, brought Boulder Creek within two at 69-67 with approximately 15 seconds remaining.
The Jaguars fouled Scottsdale Christian’s Park Thomas with 11 seconds remaining, but the senior guard converted both foul shots to make it a two possession game once again. When the Jaguars couldn’t connect on their next possession the Eagles were able to run out the clock.
Up next for the Jaguars is the 15- team Great Desert Shootout, a three-day event, that gets underway at Cactus Shadows High School on Monday.
The Jaguars open the event at 10 a.m. against Tempe High School, out of the 4A ranks. The Buffaloes are off to a 6-4 start this season. With a win the Jaguars would face the winner of Thunderbird/Williams Field in a game later that day, slated to start at 4 p.m.
While Boulder Creek is on the bottom of the bracket, the host Cactus Shadows Falcons (5-5) are on the top half of the bracket.
Following a first round bye the Falcons will take on the winner Canyon del Oro/Dysart in a game set for 8:30 p.m.
The tournament continues with games through the day Tuesday and Dec. 30. The final day of the event will include the consolation championship at 3:30 p.m., the third place game at 5 p.m. leading up to the championship game at 6:30 p.m.