Boys basketball: Frederick has eyes on one big prize

By Steve Smith

ssmith@coloradocommunitymedia.com

FREDERICK -- The Frederick boys basketball team was happy to beat Windsor 57-50 on the Warriors' floor Feb. 16.

At the time, Windsor was the No. 6-ranked team in the state, according to MaxPreps. The Warriors were seventh.

What made the Warriors happier still was the win put them a win away from a potential top-four seed in the coming state 4A basketball tournament, a first-round bye and home-court advantage up through the semifinals. FHS faces Mead, the No. 3 team in the state, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19.

Jacoby Conway, who came off the bench to score 22 points for the Warriors, said the season's success is no surprise.

"The first game, we got smacked in the face, and we weren't ready," he said. "The juniors were new to the varsity. But after these 20 games, we're ready to take on the biggest team out there."

"In the summer, we knew we were going to be good," said Harry Singh, who scored 11 points. "We just had come together and play team basketball. We knew we weren't playing our best. When we started playing our best, we knew we were going to win games."

FHS has not lost this calendar year, a stretch of 13 in a row.

Matias Aldana and Bruce Conover scored six for Frederick. David Hageman of the Wizards scored 21 points, including a half-dozen baskets from beyond the 3-point arc.

At one point, the Warriors trailed by 10 points. FHS scored 13 of the next 15 points to pull into a 29-all tie early in the third quarter.

"We go down in a lot of games. It's OK. The goal at the end of the game is to win," Conway said. "Overall, we've got a really good team. We've got a big bench. We've got to play one game at a time and keep going."

"They couldn't break our press," Singh said. "Everybody wanted to win. We sacrificed each other by diving for loose balls. We think we can go all the way."

"If we get top four, that's home for the playoffs," said Alex Sturn, who scored seven points. "The biggest thing is we've changed the culture. Even when we get down, we can light that spark. We just pressed them. We make them uncomfortable. We've been down at the half several times, and we just rally in the second half."