PUEBLO - The clock never struck midnight for the Grand Valley High School boys basketball team.

The cinderella Cardinals completed their improbable run by defeating Burlington 84-75 to win the Class 2A state championship Saturday night at the Colorado State Fair Events Center.

"This is unbelievable," Grand Valley coach Scott Kiburis said. "The kids worked so hard to reach this goal. I am so happy for them."

When the final buzzer sounded, the Cardinals players and fans were going jumping around and screaming for joy, which was expected. This, after all, was the first team state championship of any kind in Grand Valley school history.

"This is so incredible," said Grand Valley guard Sam McKinley, who had a team-best 20 points. "We won the gold ball and we're No. 1.

That's what the Western Slope is all about."

Grand Valley concluded its historic season with a 22-4 record.

Burlington, which was making its first appearance in the state championship since it won the 1948 Class C title, ended its season at 22-4.

In addition to McKinley, Tyler Jensen (19 points), Luke Braby (16), Colton Cowan (15) all scored in double-figures for the Cardinals.

Burlington was paced by Nat David, who had 29 points, and Cassidy Hallagin also chipped in 22 for the Cougars.

"I thought we played well and gave a good effort," David said. "They just shot lights out. That was the difference."

The Cardinals made 11 three-pointers in the game and drained a total of 36 treys in their three state tournament victories over Cripple Creek-Victor (81-72), Evangelical Christian Academy (71-52) and Burlington.

"We made a lot of threes the whole tournament," Kiburis said. "We were in a shooting slump for four games before we got here and then we just caught fire at state."

Heading into the final quarter, the game was very much in doubt as Grand Valley held a slim 52-49 edge.

Then, McKinley took charge less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

The 6-foot-2 senior scored nine-consecutive points, which he capped with three free throws to give the Cardinals a 66-55 lead with 5:56 remaining.

The Cougars countered and cut the deficit to 69-64 when Loren Queen put in a jumper at the 3:56 mark.

Grand Valley wasn't fazed.

Cowan made a nifty left-handed transition layup and then McKinley scored on a hard drive to the bucket that gave the Cardinals a 76-67 advantage with 2:38 showing on the clock.

"When teams make runs, we answer back," McKinley said. "That's what we have done all year."

Cowan essentially iced the victory when he made a no-look pass to Jensen who scored a layup that put Grand Valley ahead 78-69 with 1:28 left.

"It hard playing catch up," David said. "It seemed like we were trading threes for twos with them the whole night."

A night that Grand Valley will never forget.

"We did it," Braby said. "We did it. No one can ever take this away from us."

Class 2A boys

Grand Valley 84, Burlington 75

Burlington 12 16 21 26 -- 75

Grand Valley 13 22 17 32 -- 84

Grand Valley - Sam McKinley 6 6-7 20, Tyler Jensen 6 4-4 19, Mitch Belden 1 3-4 5, Colton Cowan 5 1-3 15, Michael Shepherd 0 1-2 1, Danny Manzanares 1 0-0 3, Richard Gallegos 2 0-0 5, Tyler Radel 0 0-0 0, Matt Zollars 0 0-0 0, Derek Witt 0 0-0 0, Luke Braby 7 2-2 16. Totals: 28 17-23 84.

Burlington - Matt Bown 0 0-0 0, Nat David 8 6-8 29, Bryan Weber 1 0-0 2, Preston Penny 1 3-6 6, Collen Medley 1 0-0 2, Logan Hines 1 0-0 3, Cassidy Hallagin 9 4-6 22, Loren Queen 4 1-3 9, Nolan Queen 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 26 14-23 75.

Three-point goals - GV, : Cowan 4, Jensen 3, McKinley 2, Manzanares, Gallegos; B, David 7, Penny, Hines.

CLASS 2A BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Tyler Jensen, Grand Valley, 6-1, jr.

Nat David, Burlington, 5-6, jr.

Dillon Larsen, Sanford, 5-11, sr.

Rob Lewis, Evangelical Christian Academy, 6-7, sr.

MVP - Sam McKinley, Grand Valley, 6-2, sr.: McKinley was emotional leader and key long-rage shooter for the the Cardinals.

Back to Top