Basalt boys and girls teams win to advance
Forrest Woolery scored a layup on an in-bounds play with 26.5 seconds remaining to clinch Basalt’s 47-44 win over Roaring Fork in a boys basketball tournament showdown in Carbondale Thursday night.
Roaring Fork managed a late 3-point attempt, but Kris Fahrenkrug’s long jumper hit the front of the rim, sending Basalt into the 3A District Tournament semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Grand Junction Central.
The Longhorns will play league champion Eagle Valley, a 66-36 winner over Gunnison on Tuesday night.
Sean Koutsakis, who finished with a game-high 17 points, scored six of Basalt’s final 10 points. His touch pass to Jon Stahlman for an easy basket with 1:56 to play gave the Longhorns a 45-42 lead in a game that was close throughout.
Roaring Fork’s Trenton Cheney pulled the Rams to within 45-44 with 42 seconds remaining when he hit a tough leaner in the lane.
But Woolery, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Basalt, hit the crucial basket on the Longhorns’ in-bounds play to finish the scoring.
“We knew that if we took care of the ball at the end, we could stay ahead,” Basalt coach Bill Crowley said. “But we had to have the lead.”
The biggest lead of the game for either team was Basalt’s 27-23 halftime advantage.
Peter Gibson, with two 3-pointers, led Roaring Fork with 11 points.
Trenton Cheney added 10 while Fahrenkrug scored nine. Chris Scott added eight for the Rams, who finished the season 13-6.
Rod Crawford added seven for Basalt and Stahlman contributed six.
Roaring Fork, like Basalt, finished with three 3-point field goals. The Rams added 13 regular field goals. And they were 9-of-17 from the foul line.
Basalt hit on 16 field goals and the Longhorns were a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, including 4-of-4 in the fourth quarter.
The Basalt girls team advanced to the second round as well with a 25-20 win over Gunnison at the Big House Thursday.
BHS will now play Roaring Fork at 6:30 p.m. today at CHS.
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