Robert Newell
This year, when Heritage and Littleton met on the court, it was
the boys in red who came out on top.
Both the Heritage High School Eagles and the Littleton Lions
showed up Jan. 27 at Heritage High School in Littleton trying to
keep their heads above water in the ultra competitive Continental
League of Class 5A basketball. By games end, it was the Eagles who
walked off the court with momentum and hope as they pulled away in
the fourth quarter for a 58-44 win.
In a game that saw the Eagles pull away several times only to
see the Lions come back, it was Eagles senior Brandon Kaufman who
finally put the game out of reach, intercepting an inbounds pass
and slamming it home to put his team up by eight with less then two
minutes to go.
“I don’t know, I just reacted,” the 6 foot, 5 inch senior said.
“I do know this was big for us. We have some confidence now after a
win like this. We have to play at a high level from here on out and
we will see.”
The steal and dunk was not the only thing Kaufman contributed to
the win. He contributed 17 total points, which was second only to
fellow senior and best friend James Clemm’s 20 points.
“It’s not me, it’s what Brandon and the other guy’s do” Clemm
said. “They are always moving and cutting off the ball making
things easier for whoever has the ball.”
Heritage coach Mike Broyles was happy with his teams offensive
execution, but felt it was his teams defense that made a difference
down the stretch.
“I think we definitely played better defense as the game
progressed, as our intensity picked up so did our D,” Broyles said.
“There is no doubt that helped in the fourth quarter.”
The other thing that helped the Eagles was free throw shooting
with the Eagles able to make the front end of several one on one’s
while the Lions misfired.
“That was a factor for sure” Littleton coach Ray Van Heukelem
said. “But in the end we didn’t match what they brought as far as
intensity down the stretch and wanting it more.
“When we can get to that point we will be able to play with
anybody, we did for three quarters tonight now it’s time for
four.”
While Heritage was paced by Kaufmen and Clemm, Littleton got
solid outings from Mark Mamunes who scored 14 points while shooting
70 percent and Lee Hosey who scored 12.
“We had some guy’s play big tonight,” Van Heukelm said. “But in
the end you cant always be playing catch up. It’s takes to much out
of you and that’s where we wound up.”
