Doherty overcomes Rampart in OT for spot in 5A semis

DENVER • The third time was the charm for Doherty as the Spartans defeated Rampart 69-64 in overtime Friday night to advance to the Class 5A state semifinals.

Doherty outplayed the Rams in the overtime period, using a stingy defense to force the Rams’ into bad shots and turnovers.

Check out a photo gallery from the game.

Doherty, who had lost the teams’ two regular-season meetings by a combined 11 points, will play Regis in Thursday’s semifinals in Boulder. Regis beat Arapahoe 86-72 earlier Friday.

Andrew Hill’s putback had put Doherty up 57-55 with 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. But Rampart’s Devon Grant scored with 5 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Rampart led 35-23 at halftime, but Doherty opened the third quarter with a 15-0 spurt to set the stage for a back-and-forth second half.

“We came out and struggled in the first half, but in the second half I told our team to get their heads in it,” Doherty’s Tyler Velasquez said. “This is a huge win, we have been underdogs all season, but we knew all along we could do this.”

The intensity went up and the game got physical after halftime, as both teams committed hard fouls and cranked up the defensive effort.

After a Lance Evans intentional foul when he tried to tackle Doherty’s Reggie Simpson, the wheels appeared to be coming off for the Rams. The Spartans led 40-38 at the end of three.

Alex Koehler scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half for the hot-starting Rams.

Koehler’s fifth 3-pointer of the game put up the Spartans up 35-15 with 2 minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Velasquez countered with eight straight points to cut into the deficit to 35-23 heading into the intermission.

Velasquez had 14 points at the half, including four 3-pointers, and finished with 19 points to lead the Spartans (17-9).

The Rams (23-3) came out shooting lights out, taking a 14-3 midway through the first quarter.

Doherty appeared a little bit shaken by the Rams’ quick start, as they turned the ball over several times. Rampart led 22-12 after one quarter.