Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Glenwood Springs High School boys basketball coach Cory Hitchcock called it a championship bout. Steamboat Springs High School coach Luke DeWolfe had called it a must win.

In the end, it was just the two best basketball teams in the Western Slope League renewing a heated rivalry with a game that went down to the last shot.

This time, Steamboat’s Randall Nelson hit the go-ahead bucket and Kit Croop added a free throw with three seconds left before Glenwood’s Mike McGraw’s last-second 3-pointer fell short, giving the Sailors a 56-54 win at home Saturday.

“We talked a lot about thriving on adversity,” Steamboat coach Luke DeWolfe said. “When the chips are stacked against you, how do you deal with that? That’s where character emerges. When there is adversity, that’s where you really have to come together as a team. (Saturday) we did that.”

After a back-and-forth first quarter that saw five lead changes and three ties, Steamboat started to distance itself. The Sailors took a 34-25 lead into halftime and had extended it to 51-39 at the 6 minute, 33 second mark of the fourth quarter.

But Glenwood wasn’t done.

The Demons went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 51-50 with 3:29 left in the game. The two teams traded baskets before Glenwood’s Nick Ciani made a bucket with 1:38 to go to give the Demons their first lead since the 3:53 mark of the first quarter.

But Nelson came right back down and made a driving layup, giving Steamboat the lead for good.

“That was just two of the best teams in the league competing for that top spot,” Hitchcock said. “They just happened to come out on top.”

Glenwood’s Kevin Flohr led all scorers with 33 points. Isiah Mendoza-Forsyth led Steamboat with 17 points, and Nelson added 12.

Even with the loss, Glenwood remains in the control of the league race. The loss leaves the Demons 13-5 overall and 6-1 in league play.

Steamboat is now 10-7 and 4-2 in league play, just a game behind with five league contests left.

Game statistics

Steamboat Springs 56, Glenwood Springs 54

■ Score by quarter

Glenwood: 19-06-12-17 — 54

Steamboat: 22-12-12-10 — 56

■ Scoring summary

Glenwood: Ciani 3 0-0 6, Casey 4 0-0 9, Madrid 1 0-0 2, Pelland 0 4-6 4, Flohr 10 8-8 33. Totals 18 12-14 54.

Steamboat: Mendoza-Forsyth 6 3-6 17, Anderson 3 1-1 8, Nelson 6 0-0 12, Wood 2 4-6 8, Trousil 0 3-6 3, Croop 3 1-5 8. Totals 20 12-24 56.

3-pointers: Glenwood (6) — Flohr 5, Casey. Steamboat (4) — Mendoza-Forsyth 2, Anderson, Croop.