5A-4A boys' hoops athlete of year: Tyler Velasquez, Doherty

When the Class 5A state basketball tournament started last month, Doherty was far from the chic pick to emerge from its regional into the semifinals.

The Spartans had finished fourth in the 5A Metro League, with a pair of their losses coming against Rampart — the region’s top seed.

But Doherty and its star guard, Tyler Velasquez, didn’t mind being an afterthought. They used it to their advantage, sneaking into the state semifinals with an overtime victory over the Rams before falling to eventual state champion Regis.

Check out a photo gallery featuring Velasquez.

“This season went far past people’s expectations,” said Velasquez, who shared 5A Metro Player of the Year honors with Liberty’s Wes McKenzie. “This Doherty team wanted to win the most of any team I played for in the past four years.

“When you play at Doherty you’re always expected to perform well, and this year we had the best playoff team we have had in a while.”

While the Spartans flourished in the role of underdog, Velasquez wasn’t exactly an unknown commodity. The 5-foot-10 guard always seemed to attract the best defense an opponent had to offer but still found ways to generate points.

The senior, who strives to imitate point guards Steve Nash and Chris Paul with his play, averaged 20.9 points and four rebounds. But the aspect of Velasquez’s game that makes him so dangerous is his passing (6.2 assists), especially when he penetrates into the lane.

“He is one of the best guards I have ever coached,” said Dan McKiernan, who has paced the sideline for more than four decades. “It sounds cliché, but he really does make everybody else on the floor better with his play.”

Click here to see a printable poster of Tyler.

Velasquez has talked with several colleges — including Missouri State, Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado-Colorado Springs — about taking his game to the next level but has yet to make a decision.

“I think he could play in major college basketball,” McKiernan said. “He has a good sense of the game, and he understands the situations of the game very well.”

And while he certainly turns heads on the basketball court, Velasquez also shines in the classroom, where he’s earned a cumulative 4.0 grade-point average.