DENVER – With a season like this, head coach Mike Hall and the Panthers never wanted the roller coaster ride to come to an end.
In their first state tournament appearance in seven years, the Panthers had intentions of sticking around to championship Saturday. In the mirror on Wednesday night, however, M-CHS met a University team that generated a reflection of what the Panthers had been doing to opposition all season long.
A second half Bulldogs flurry, primarily fueled by high-press steals, reversed a M-CHS 43-37 lead into a fifteen-point advantage for the No. 10 seeded ‘Dogs before they held off one final Panther charge in a 72-63 University win in the 4A state tournament in the Denver Coliseum.
M-CHS (25-1) could easily have been overwhelmed under the bright lights of the historic arena - and an early 15-6 deficit might have given them major cause for concern. The No. 2 seed responded with one of several major runs, extending a run through the late first quarter and into the early second stanza that eventually lifted the Panthers into the lead.
Junior Trey Hall and senior Trace Hartsoe combined for 22 first-half points, including during a flurry that pushed the Panthers in front 22-19 midway through the second quarter. Sophomore Royce Watts and senior Wyatt Oliver canned a triple apiece as M-CHS outscored University 23-14 in the second quarter and the Panthers sprinted to the locker room with a 34-31 lead.
Sophomore Justin Bane added to the scoring frenzy with four of his six points in the big second quarter, then added another bucket as M-CHS build the lead to six points midway through the third.
The Bulldogs found their big response, starting with a pair of breakaway layins to turn the tide. Senior Coehn Nitzel sat at the top of the Bulldogs press and capitalized on numerous second half chances to turn University steals into quick points.
By the end of the third, the Panthers lead was gone - the ‘Dogs led 50-49 - and University scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to really put the Panthers behind the eight-ball.
After the lead grew to as large as 15 points, M-CHS made one more push, as Oliver drained his third three of the night, Hartsoe made a stickback bucket and junior Asher Bennetts added a basket to cut the margin to 68-63. That would be as close as the Panther rally would come, as University made their free throws and head coach Mike Hall got his bench into the game to soak in the state tournament experience.
Hall finished his night with 22 points while Hartsoe added 16 of his own. Oliver’s nine points joined a half dozen tallies from Watts and Bane in the defeat.
University’s Coehn Nitzel led the Bulldogs with 26, with 22 of those markers coming after halftime. Classmate River Sawyer balanced that by scoring 13 of his 19 points in the first half.
M-CHS ends one of their winningest seasons of their program’s history with a 25-1 record, having captured the IML title and the program’s first regional title since 2019. Hartsoe, Oliver, and Eli Slim cap off careers with the orange-and-black that saw M-CHS improve from a seven-win season during their freshman season to one of the best years in school history.
University moves on to face Peak to Peak in the semifinals, with defending state champ Kent Denver and Timnath meeting in the other 4A semifinal.
