In one of the more entertaining quarterfinal games in recent history, the Doherty Spartans were able to outlast Monarch 73-66 Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum.

Doherty (24-2), the No. 1 seed in the Ball Region, scored the final seven points of the contest to get by the upstart Coyotes (20-7), who were only seeded sixth after an up-and-down regular season.

"It was a real fun game to play in, getting behind your teammates and trying to win a game that is that close," said the Spartans' sophomore guard Bryse Valesquez. "I didn't expect them to stay with us that long."

One reason Monarch was able to stay with Doherty until the very end was the superb play of Brooks Bajcar. A senior guard, Bajcar scored 28 points, including eight three pointers. He hit three three-pointers in the fourth quarter alone, many with Valesquez right in his face.

"I don't know what to say, (Bajcar's) just a pure shooter," Valesquez said. "If you leave him open, he's going to hit it."

After Doherty had opened the fourth with a 6-0 run to take a 59-53 lead, Bajcar did everything he could to keep the Coyotes in the contest. He hit a three coming off a screen to stop the Spartans' run, and then later hit a pair of three's with Valesquez right on top of him, the second one tying the score at 64-64 with 3:22 left to play.

"I was feeling it tonight, I guess you could say," said Bajcar, who was 8 of 13 from beyond the arc.

Valesquez put Doherty up a short time later with a couple of foul shots. Almost as important as the points was that Bajcar picked up his fourth personal on the play.

The next time the Spartans had the ball, Valesquez went right at Bajcar, who had to back off to avoid picking up his fifth. A couple of Monarch players stepped up to stop Valesquez's drive, leaving V.J. Holmes wide open for a layup that put Doherty up 68-66 with 1:10 to play.

"The coaches told me (Bajcar) had his fourth so I went at him and tried to get him out," said Velasquez, who scored a team-high 21. "That's a play we work on a lot in practice."

Bajcar did go out a short time later on a questionable call near mid-court, and Monarch misfired on a couple of tough shots as Velasquez scored the game's final four points.

"Late in the game we didn't execute like we had been," Monarch coach Ken Niven said. "Our kids played hard. What an effort. What an honor it is to coach the kids I have."

Holmes finished with 17 and James Webb added 15 for Doherty, while Sabatino Chen and Ryan Magiera both had 15 for the Coyotes.

Doherty 73, Monarch 66

Monarch 23 16 14 13 — 66

Doherty 19 18 16 20 — 73

Monarch — Sabatino Chen 5 5-9 15, Brooks Bajcar 9 2-2 28, Mike Kawoluk 0 0-0 0, Jason Cashdollar 2 0-0 4, Ryan Magiera 5 4-4 15, Josh Allen 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 11-15 56.

Doherty — Jon Davis 0 1-2 1, Bryse Velasquez 5 8-8 21, James Webb 6 1-3 15, V.J. Holmes 8 1-2 17, Garrett Fiddler 4 2-4 10, Travis Moritz 4 0-0 9. Totals 27 13-19 73.

Three-point field goals — Monarch, Bajcar 8, Magiera; Doherty, Velasquez 3, Webb 2, Moritz 1. Fouled out — Bajcar.