By Schuyler Wright, sports editor
Boulder High point guard Riley Grabau, a senior, drives by Fairview defender Shane O’Neil on a fastbreak during the second quarter of Boulder’s 30-point blowout of Fairview on Tuesday night. Grabau finished the game with 28 points. (Photo by Cory Waltrip)
In the first of two games to be played this year between Boulder (10-2, 5-0) and Fairview (9-3, 2-3) at the Coors Event Center at CU on Tuesday night, the Panthers showed the silent Fairview student section that BHS is more of a rival than they could handle. In light of the “we need a rival” chants that seem to come from the red-clad section at every BHS-FHS game, the Panthers, led by senior point guard Riley Grabau, sent the Knights back to their prison-inspired lair of a school with a sour taste in their mouths.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead, but junior Lauren Ban kept the Panthers in the game with unrelenting play in the paint, gobbling up a seemingly endless array of rebounds, and hitting layup after layup on second-chance opportunities, finishing with 18 points.
On the victory and his personal play, Ban, a native of Croatia, summed it all up with a simple “It was a great game.”
Coach Alan Schulz, in his third game back on the sidelines following an extended absence for medical reasons, was also ecstatic about the victory, putting all the praise back on his players.
“As a coach, you can’t win games for your team; you can really only lose them,” Schulz said.
The Panthers started pulling away from Fairview in the second quarter, with Grabau going off from the three-point line. Hitting four consecutive treys in the closing moments of the half, Grabau sent the team into the intermission with a 37-23 lead.
Boulder High’s student section was a bit smaller than Fairview’s for this game, but what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality. The sea of purple was rowdy the entire game, even when the backups came in. In fact, the crowd was at its loudest when fan-favorite Jeff Kim checked in. One of the “leaders” of the student section, senior Griffin Bohm, was loud and proud the entire night. Bohm said that he was was happy to “win a big game.”
In the background, the administration was hard at work keeping the crowd at bay, with numerous students being pulled from the stands for inappropriate chants and/or other behavior. Bohm was also vocal on this topic.
“While the game was great, seeing Fairview get pounded, the administration really put a damper on the fun,” Bohm said.
Grabau, the leading scorer in the game with 28 points, was just a handful of rebounds away from reaching the prestigious triple-double. Nevertheless, his outstanding performance was the spark that ignited Boulder’s offense in the second quarter.
Grabau echoed his coach in deflecting the praise to his supporting cast.
“This is truly a team game. You can’t win with just one player doing well. It feels great to get rolling on this winning streak,” Grabau said.
The Panthers will take their six-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game against Poudre. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. at Poudre.
The Owl 