Mesa Ridge basketball achieved purple perfection.
The Grizzlies out-slugged Air Academy 71-68 in the Class 5A championship game Saturday at the Denver Coliseum, securing the program’s first championship to finish a sparkling 28-0. Mekhi Hubbard had the game-winning drive with just under 30 seconds left, and Tevin Riehl sank a pair of free throws to ice it.
It was the first-ever all-Colorado Springs final in 5A, and first such title game in any classification since Lewis-Palmer beat Sierra for the 4A crown in 2012. There were eight ties and four lead changes in the see-saw affair.
“We knew it would be a great game, and we loved it was all Springs guys here,” Mesa Ridge coach Joel Babbitt said. “(Air Academy coach) Barry (Clark) is a buddy of mine. In the second half, we started getting our defense right and started limiting some of their shots. Because wow, they can really shoot it.”
Riehl led Mesa Ridge with 21 points, while Grant Featherston, Corbin Garver and Noah Hellem all finished in double digits for Air Academy, which fell just short of its third title. Trei Ginn added 13 points off the bench for Mesa Ridge, following his 27-point performance in the Final 4.
The Grizzlies set the tone from the opening tip, and it took a few minutes for the Kadets to sink a field goal. The Grizzlies led 20-16 after one quarter, but Air Academy used an 11-2 run sparked by Featherstone to go into the half with a 38-36 advantage.
The Kadets were especially potent from long range early on, sinking 7 of 12 first-half 3s, while Mesa Ridge shot 6 of 15 from distance to keep pace.
In the third quarter, the teams continued to battle back and forth. Both teams had mini-spurts on offense that were then answered on the other end of the floor. In the meantime, Air Academy’s Garver, who exploded for 27 points in the team’s Final 4 victory over Frederick, got into foul trouble and spent much of the third on the bench.
Saturday marked the second hoops title in Mesa Ridge history, joining the Class 4A crown won by the girls program in 2014. And it was a Cinderella ending to Babbitt’s first year leading the Grizzlies after five seasons as an assistant at Lewis-Palmer, and spending last year as an assistant at Palmer Ridge.
“Day 1 when I came in, in the first 20 minutes, this team bought in,” Babbitt said. “I knew I had talent from the tapes that I watched, but this team was dying to learn and we talked them into loving defense… I looked at a couple jobs last year and this one opened up. What a treat.”
