ARVADA — The Ralston Valley boys basketball roster lists four seniors who play varsity for the Mustangs. But Saturday in the Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals, it sure looked like they had five.

Sophomore Pierce Hornung had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Mustangs to a 57-47 victory against Pueblo South at Ralston Valley High School. Hornung was unflappable down the stretch as the Mustangs held off the Colts in the final quarter. He connected on his last seven free throw attempts, pulled down several timely rebounds, and even threw a long pass down court to assist on teammate Grant Hamilton's layup.

The 6-3 forward was able to use his size advantage, something opponents have not been able to do often against the smaller, faster Colts this season.

"We knew they were really quick, but not real big,'' Hornung said. "We never give up, and we play hard defense and win games. That's what we've done all year."

The Mustangs (23-3) held Pueblo South to just 34 percent (14 of 41) shooting from the field, and the Colts hurt themselves with poor free throw shooting. They hit just 17-of-30 from the stripe, including nine-of-16 in the final quarter.

Ralston Valley, the No. 1 seed in the Bill Weimar Region, never trailed in the game, but they never held a comfortable lead. In the second quarter the Colts cut their deficit to 17-16 on a short jump shot by Niko Marinucci, but Hamilton sparked the Mustangs offense when they were in trouble. With a three-point basket and several slashing layups through heavy traffic, Hamilton scored 11 of his 13 points in the second to help Ralston Valley take a 30-22 halftime lead.

"We were struggling there for awhile offensively,'' Hamilton said. "I couldn't really get anything going on the outside, so I just thought I'd try taking it inside and try to get the free throw line or get an easy layup.''

Ralston Valley was clinging to a 39-36 lead in the fourth quarter when Pueblo South was called for a two technicals. Brody Lockett was whistled for the first one after talking back to the referee after he was called for a foul, and the second was called on the Pueblo South bench when an assistant coach kept arguing the case. Zach Johnson made three of the four free throws Ralston Valley was awarded to give the Mustangs a 42-36 lead with six minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the game.

"We got four three throws and we got the ball back, so that always helps,'' Hamilton said.

Pueblo South (25-1) still trimmed the lead to 45-42 after a pair of Marinucci free throws with 4:11 left. But fouls started to take a toll on both teams, with five players fouling out in the final minutes. Lockett, one of the Colts best three-point shooters, fouled out as well as Cody Sorensen, who, at 6-4, was the Colts best post player. With 22 seconds left and the Mustangs leading by seven points, Marinucci and Kameron Wilhite missed on three point attempts, ending the Colts last best chance to come back.

Hamilton had fouled out of the game, too, along with two other starters for Ralston Valley, but with Pierce Hornung on the floor along with an experienced bench, the Mustangs were in little danger as they closed out the Colts season.

"We always try to stay cool, but I was pretty nervous there at the end when me, Kevin (Webber) and Brock fouled out,'' Hamilton said. "But we trust our bench and we do it as a team.''

Marinucci led the Colts with 20 points, and Sorensen had seven points and nine rebounds.

Ralston Valley will face Widefield (21-4) in the semifinals at the Coors Events Center in Boulder this week.

Pueblo South... 11 11 10 15 — 47

Ralston Valley... 15 15 7 20 — 57

PS — Niko Marinucci 6 6-15 20, Kameron Wilhite 3 6-8 12, Cody Sorensen 3 1-2 7, Brody Lockett 1 0-0 2, DaQuan Cartwright 0 0-0 0, Josh Dome 0 3-4 3, Tim Zufall 1 1-1 3. Totals 14 17-30 47.

RV — Zach Johnson 2 5-6 10, Kevin Webber 0 0-0 0, Grant Hamilton 6 0-1 13, Pierce Hornung 7 8-9 22, Brock Hornung 3 0-0 6, Dane June 1 4-6 6. Totals 19 17-22 57.

Three-point goals — PS, Marinucci 2; RV, Johnson, Hamilton. Technicals — PS, Lockett, bench. Fouled out — PS, Lockett, Sorensen; RV, Webber, Hamilton, B. Hornung.