Monsieur Montour had no choice but to talk to the hand.
Adison Jones’ eyes weren’t wanting to see a potential re-tying shot near the rim, his ears weren’t trying to hear the opponents and their varied fans out-shout his own, and his mind wasn’t remotely thinking of a loss – in overtime, no less – to close the book on his high-school playing days.
“We were up by three and fouled them on a three-point shot. They missed the first one, made the second one and called timeout to set up a play,” Jones recalled afterwards, seated upon the trainer’s table and cutting athletic tape off his ankle while still seemingly letting the incident’s impact hit him fully.
“They missed the [third] free throw, get the ball, and the guy [Jacob Montour] goes up for a layup,” he continued. “I meet him at the goal, and block it to save the game!”
Sounds simple enough, right?
Not exactly.
Coming inside Adams State University’s Plachy Hall the afternoon of Saturday, June 13, Jones and the 59th Colorado High School Coaches Association All-State Games’ Black Team hadn’t yet jelled to the degree the players – or coaches Jim Hale (2A Rye) and Scott Crites (3A Buena Vista) – wanted, and had fallen to ASG Blue, 57-49, in semifinal play.
Facing ASG Red in the third-place shootout, that issue was swiftly resolved. With Montour and 5A Northglenn High teammate Jonah Radebaugh aggressively pacing the enemy, it had to be. And Jones, booking a basket, rebound, assist and steal within the game’s first three minutes, was part of the answer.
Radebaugh and Montour combined for 15 points and ASG Red drained six three-pointers during the first 20-minute, college-style half, but entered intermission up just 39-38 as Black got 13 from local product Ethan Caton (1A Mosca Sangre de Cristo), eight from 1A McClave’s T.J. Trujillo and four from Jones.
BVHS shooting guard Kenneth Schell’s long-range accuracy helped buoy Black during the second half, while Radebaugh continued fueling Red and ultimately tied the score, as teammate Sam Parker (3A Parachute Grand Valley) had previously done with a trey countering a Jones deuce, at 74 ending regulation.
Only 90 seconds were put on the clock for the thrilling third stanza, and they expired quickly.
Schell sank his fourth triple of the clash, giving him 19 points overall, and Caton crashed inside for another bucket to finish with a game-best 23, while 2A Simla’s Kyler Hamacher netted Red’s only basket before Jones’ rejection brought the battle to a close with the scoreboard showing Black 79, Red 77.
“It was fun,” Jones (who totaled eight points) said, surrounded by family. “A fun way to end my high-school basketball career – up here, at the All-State Games.”
“I thought when it came down to it we played together well. We just started executing the way we’ve been practicing with just the little bit of time that we had; it just all started clicking together.”
CHSCA ALL-STATE BOYS’ 3RD-PLACE GAME BOX:
BLACK (38-36-5 – 79): J.Imber (Byers) 2 0 4, A.JONES (IGNACIO) 4 0 8, T.Trujillo (McClave) 1 5 8, W.Vick (Genoa-Hugo/Karval) 0 0 0, A.Ullman (Broomfield Jefferson Academy) 1 0 2, E.Caton (Mosca Sangre de Cristo) 9 5 23, J.Clarkson (Akron) 4 1 10, J.Rocha (Swink) 1 3 5, K.Schell (Buena Vista) 7 1 19, T.Thompson (Colorado Springs Sierra) DNP, W.Ball (C.S. The Classical Academy) DNP. TOTALS: 29 15 79. 3-POINTERS: Trujillo, Schell 4, Clarkson.
RED (39-35-3 – 77): D.Dietz (Anton Arickaree) 0 0 0, J.Engles (Longmont Silver Creek) 4 0 9, K.Hamacher (Simla) 3 0 7, S.Parker (Parachute Grand Valley) 4 1 11, J.Radebaugh (Northglenn) 6 4 18, R.Lopez (Meeker) 4 0 8, J.Montour (Northglenn) 4 1 10, M.Mueller (Del Norte) 2 0 6, T.Fierro (Holyoke) 2 0 4, T.Nelson (Holly) 2 0 4. TOTALS: 31 6 77. 3-POINTERS: Radebaugh 2, Parker 2, Mueller 2, Montour, Engles, Hamacher.