Valor Christian Captures Schools First Boys State Championship with 68-55 Win Over Lewis-Palmer

3/11/17

By Jon Miller

Denver, CO – There is the saying that big players make big plays in big games. Kayle Knuckles was that big player on Saturday night. The senior ended his prep career with a double-double scoring 32 points and grabbing 12 rebounds on the biggest stage of his prep career, leading Valor Christian to its first state title in boy’s basketball. The Eagles defeated Lewis-Palmer 68-55 in the 4A Boys State Championship.

“Right from the get go I planned on being aggressive and my teammates did a good job finding me. I wouldn’t score any points without them passing me the ball, I was just open a lot tonight. I mean I never thought this would happen,” Knuckles said of his big night.

Knuckles led the Eagles with 32 and 12 but what may be more impressive is that Valor Christian only had four players in the scoring column. Seniors Jalen Sanders, Keisan Crosby, and Dylan McCaffrey combined for remaining 36 points.

Valor Christian started the game running and Lewis-Palmer struggled to keep up. The Rangers won the tip but Knuckles set the tone early. On the Rangers first possession, the senior intercepted the Lewis-Palmer pass, then during Eagles ensuing possession, Knuckles cut back door for an easy two. Later in the first and tied at three, Jalen Sanders muscled his way inside, scoring back to back buckets followed by a pair of Keisan Crosby’s jumpers, putting the Eagles in front 11-3. Drew Blomberg’s three stopped the Valor run 8-0. Angelo Battistelli followed up with a bucket of his own to cut the Eagles lead to three. Knuckles bucket pushed the lead back to five, then Crosby hit a jumper before the buzzer to give Valor Christian the 15-8 lead after one.

Valor Christian continued to beat Lewis-Palmer on the back-door pass. The Eagles would drive to the basket, drawing the Ranger defenders, allowing the Eagles to cut backdoor for the layup. Valor Christian extended its lead to 25-12 late in the second before the Rangers settled down. Drew Blomberg’s three was followed by Billy Cook’s steal. Blomberg again hit a three to cut the deficit to 7. Jalen Sanders bucket put the lead back to 9 before Joel Scott was fouled on a putback. Scott’s free throw capped off a 9-2 Lewis-Palmer run to end the first half with Valor leading 27-21 at the break. Sanders and Knuckles combined for 20 of Valor Christians 27 first half points.

The Rangers cut the Valor Christian lead to 34-30 midway through the third until Knuckles and Sanders countered. Knuckles three from the corner started an 8-0 run for the duo, giving the Eagles the 42-30 lead late in the third. Both Sanders and Knuckles continued to be a thorn in Lewis-Palmer’s side in the paint. When the duo was not slashing to the basket on offense, they contested Lewis-Palmer on the defensive end, limiting the Rangers points in the paint. Valor Christian ended the quarter up 44-34.

Lewis-Palmer cut the Valor Christian lead to 9 in the fourth with a Billy Cook bucket. This was the closest the Rangers would get as the Eagles responded with a 12-5 run to extend its lead to 66-51 late in the final frame on its way to the 68-55 win.

All of Valor Christians scoring came from seniors Kayle Knuckles 32, Jalen Sanders 18, Keisan Crosby’s 12 and Dylan McCaffrey’s 6.

“Just win, refuse to lose. That is our motto we go by, and just play basketball the way I know how to play basketball,” Jalen Sanders said.

Keisan Crosby attributed last season’s loss in the state championship to his play today.

“Coming out here and being here twice, that was big. Realizing last year, we didn’t win so just to come out here and be confident and play the way I know how to play. We were coming out every game ready to play knowing that if we did not show up, it could end our senior year,” Crosby said.

Lewis-Palmer was led by Joel Scott’s 15, Drew Blomberg’s 13, and Angelo Battisstelli’s 12.

“Today’s game doesn’t define our season. Valor is a very good team and I told our team before that this was going to be a game between two pretty good basketball teams that were very good at running their stuff. We uncharacteristically missed a lot of layups tonight. We got the shots at the rim we wanted to, we just didn’t knock them down. This game is not a culmination of our season. Our guys did a great job battling through everything all year long. Wasn’t the way we wanted it to end up but this game shouldn’t define these young men or their season,” Lewis-Palmer Coach Bill Benton said.

When asked the reason of his team’s slow start, Benton replied

“Nerves, playing in the state championship. I also think just getting that opportunity for us to play at their pace. They do a great job of speeding you up and getting you to play at their speed, and we like controlling the pace and we weren’t able to and I think it took us a little bit of time to find out how we needed to control it.”

The Rangers finished their season at 23-5.

Valor Christian finished their season at 24-4.