Palmer runs away from rival with strong second half

As Doherty stayed afloat with free throws, Palmer stepped back and put the game away with shots worth a bit more.

Brandon Deese hit two 3-pointers during a backbreaking third-quarter run and a packed house watched the Terrors recover from two earlier losses to the Spartans and run away with one of the city’s better rivalries 74-59 on Friday night.

Check out more photos from Friday's game.

“The crowd gets you really intense,” said Deese, who finished with 11 points and hit his 3s directly in front of a charged student section at Palmer. “It just makes me want to go out there and play my game.”

Dave Victorino also hit a 3-pointer during a 12-4 spurt that closed the third and gave the Terrors breathing room after leading by one at halftime.

As much as the 3s changed the momentum, it was the Palmer defense that set the tone. Had it not been for Doherty’s 21 points at the free-throw line, the game wouldn’t have been a contest as the Spartans made only three field goals through the first 12 minutes of the second half.

“When we bring it defensively, we’re a hard team to beat,” said junior guard Terrell Brown, who led the Pikes Peak 5A-4A No. 4 Terrors (14-4, 10-2 5A Metro) with 19 points.

Is there a better rivalry in the Pikes Peak region? Comment here.

The defense particularly concentrated on Tyler Velasquez, who entered the game averaging 20.9 points. Though Velasquez nearly hit his average with 18 points, most came from the free-throw line and with a meaningless 3-pointer in the final minute.

“I thought we did a great job of making it really hard for Tyler to get open shots, and you have to because he’s so good,” Palmer coach Jim Grantz said. “If you give it to him, he’ll make them and he’ll give you all kinds of trouble.”

Velasquez’s 18 led Doherty (12-8, 7-5), which also got 14 point from Mark Jones and 13 from Matt Oesterle.

“It was just their night,” Velasquez said. “They had a good game.”

Chris Urbaniak (13) and sophomore Jalen Little (12) joined Deese and Brown in double figures for Palmer. But that crowd, and the noise it made through the buzzer, might as well have made it five.

“The Doherty-Palmer game,” said a grinning Brown, who transferred from Colorado Springs School. “That’s what I came here for is that atmosphere.”