Pueblo South bound for Great 8 after second-round win over Vista Peak

The Pueblo South Colts defeated the Vista Peak Bisons 62-51 Saturday to advance to the Great 8 of the CHSAA Class 5A basketball playoffs.

With the win at the Southwest Motor Event Center, the Colts are heading back to the Great 8 for the second time in as many years.

Saturday's game against the Bisons was one of the most physical games the Colts have played all season. Between the height and size of the Bisons' interior players and the long arms of their guards, the Colts defenders had their hands full throughout the game.

However, South answered the call.

Spurred by a big second half from the entire team, the Colts, who were down by one point at halftime, came back in the third quarter to take the lead. Then, an explosion of points from Ray J Aragon and Mateo Esquivel in the fourth helped put the game out of reach.

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Colts struggle in the first half

The first half of the game seemed to be going South's way, as they were leading after the first quarter and had firm control of the pace from the start. However, the Bisons were not simply going to roll over — they methodically started to creep back into the game in the second quarter.

Vista Peak used its size and physicality and made the most of the foul calls in its favor, hitting free throws and eventually taking a one-point lead into halftime.

“I knew we were going to be all right,” Colts head coach Shannan Lane said. “Markus (Morita) comes up and he looked at me and said, ‘Coach, they aren’t any bigger than Arapahoe or Smokey Hills, I got this.’

"And as soon as he said that in the back of my mind, I knew we were going to be all right. We struggled early but it gave him the confidence to enter this game. I think that was their mentality and when he said that I knew they were ready to go.”

The Colts knew their game plan going into this one would likely have to be altered at halftime. However, they also knew they'd be able to push the pace and score. The Bisons seemed to be getting winded by the break.

“Coached prepared a great game plan,” Aragon said. “We talked about boxing out because obviously we are a smaller team and I think our bigs executed that and we played with the different lineup because of how big they were. I think we executed ... and it worked out tonight. We adapted to everything.”

Second-half surge powers South to victory

The third and fourth quarters proved to be the frosting on the proverbial cake for the Colts. They continued to push the pace on offense and played tremendous team defense. They were able to claw and scrap their way to a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter thanks in large part to Maurice Austin’s play. During a third-quarter stretch, Austin scored or assisted on four straight baskets.

While that stretch did not extend the lead, it allowed the Colts to establish a rhythm heading into the final frame.

Then came the fireworks.

“Ray J hit big shots, Mateo drained a three, I mean, we hit some free throws down the stretch and just they really finished the ball game in the fourth quarter,” Lane said. “There were a couple of spots here and there like, 'What are we doing?' But for the most part they controlled that fourth quarter.”

Aragon and Esquivel both came up huge at the start of the fourth-quarter push to extend the Colts' lead to seven. From there, their defense stepped up big time.

Morita and Harlem Jones provided a huge presence down low for the Colts. Despite giving up close to six inches of height to Vista Peak's 6-foot-8 center, Morita and Jones worked together as a team to gang rebound the ball and prevent the Bisons from getting extra opportunities at the rim.

“I think we just knew it was, 'We take our jerseys off if we don't get this game,'” Aragon said.

“We kind of got in the mindset of we needed to go play harder. But I think that we played well coming out in the fourth quarter, we had a lot more energy than the first quarter ... and I think we executed the game plan. Coach came up with a couple of plays that we put in and I think we ran them well.”

Eventually, what had kept the Bisons in the contest — playing a methodical game, passing the ball around and looking for the best shot — became their downfall.

Down double digits late in the fourth, the Bisons just didn't have the pace or the stamina needed to push the tempo and drive to the basket.

“In the middle of the fourth quarter when we had a timeout for a minute, I told them, 'Their bigs are tired, they are on the line calling for 30 seconds to come out and stuff,'" Aragon said.

"I kind of paid attention to that and told our bigs on the bench, 'They're tired, but we are not. We don't get tired.' I think it helped out. I try to be a role model to everyone in these types of games and I think telling them that just made them play even harder.”

With about two minutes left in the game, the Bisons began launching contested three-pointers to try and make up the difference but were unable to close the gap.

In the end, the Colts' fast-paced offense was too much for the Bisons and South is headed back to the Great 8.

They will play Air Academy, a 65-28 winner over Glenwood Springs, on Thursday.

South lost to Air Academy 61-48 early in the regular season. However, the Colts have grown immensely as a team since then and seemingly have hit their stride as a unit.

"Everybody grows during the season,” Lane said. “Air Academy, I feel was really at their peak even early and we've got to go watch the film on them. Are they the same team? They've got shooters, they've got length and we know that and we lost to them by 13 our first go-round in December. But it's a challenge and I think these boys wanted that game back, so this is going to be a good challenge for us.”

Aragon believes the team is ready for the rematch against the No. 1-seeded team in the tournament.

“I think we just need to really focus on how to close our gaps and get to the shooters,” Aragon said. “I think when we played them early, we were still kind of figuring out how to find our players and stuff. I think we improved that within the last two months since we played them and I think this game helped us a lot.

"I think this game was equal to Air Academy so I think we'll be just fine.”

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Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter @chowebacca

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo South Colts beat Vista Peak Bisons to advance to the Great 8