FORT COLLINS - The casts came off for Graham Yantis just in time to help Faith Christian in its quest to win the Class 3A state basketball championship.

Yantis, a 6-foot-5 senior, broke both wrists after coming down awkwardly following a dunk a couple of weeks ago.

He missed the Eagles' past six games to heal, but he seemed no worse for wear Thursday morning as Faith Christian demolished Roosevelt 71-40 in the quarterfinals at Moby Arena in Fort Collins.

Yantis was one of 10 Eagles players to score, finishing with 12 points.

"I've never won a quarterfinal game. We've lost every time I've played in it," said Yantis, who scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime.

"In some ways, this was a bigger game for us than the semifinals will be, because we've had that monkey on our back. Now that we've gotten through it, we can keep on going, and it's our game from here on out."

Faith Christian (25-0) hit Roosevelt (14-12) with everything it had early and often. The Roughriders took a 7-6 lead on a Simon Garcia basket, only to watch the Eagles punch out a 9-0 run.

Faith Christian then started the second quarter with an 11-0 run and led by as many as 20 points in the period.

Roosevelt made a brief push late in the quarter, getting two baskets by Travis Arispe and a fast-break layup from Nathan Wilson to get the deficit down to 33-21 with a minute to play in the half.

But Faith Christian closed strong, getting three-pointers from Chase Grabau and Abram Ziemer to take a 39-21 lead into intermission.

Seven Faith Christian players scored in the first half, and the Eagles held high-scoring Jerry Hildreth to two points in the first two quarters. Hildreth, who entered averaging 24.4 points a game, misfired on six of his first seven shots.

Faith Christian coach Andrew Hasz said the Eagles have few worries offensively - it's how the team plays defense that will determine if it can win it all.

"If we play defense the way we've worked for four months, then I do feel good about our chances," Hasz said. "Obviously, we have enough guys out there that can score. I'm not as worried about that as if we don't defend consistently."

Faith Christian held Roosevelt scoreless for the final 5:45 of the game. The Eagles reserves ended the contest with an 11-0 run.

Roosevelt......11	10	10	9	-	40
Faith Christian......18	21	13	19	-	71

R - Matt Holguin 1 1-1 3, Travis Arispe 3 0-0 7, Jerry Hildreth 5 0-0 12, Simon Garcia 1 0-0 2, Nathan Wilson 3 0-0 6, Matt Hernandez 3 2-2 8, Dalton Elning 1 0-1 2. Totals 17 3-4 40.

FC - Samuel Hegarty 1 0-2 2, Jobi Wall 5 4-6 15, Abram Ziemer 4 0-0 10, Marcus Kirkwood 2 0-0 4, Sam Chapman 1 0-0 2, Vince Colson 3 4-4 10, Nick Gill 3 0-0 6, Chase Grabau 3 0-0 7, Graham Yantis 5 2-2 12, Tim Yeager 1 1-2 3. Totals 28 11-16 71.

Three-point goals – R, Hildreth 2, Arispe; FC, Ziemer 2, Grabau, Wall.

Back to Top