When Platte Canyon’s boys’ basketball team opened its Jan. 21 road game at Clear Creek on a 12-1 run, the host Golddiggers had to question what exactly they were doing. They knew they had to settle down and play their game, and that’s exactly what they did.

A 14-0 CCHS run between the first and second quarters turned the tables and a later 18-3 surge between the third and fourth quarters opened the floodgates as the Golddiggers pulled away for a 78-59 victory.

“Our defense was scoring the points for our offense,” Clear Creek senior Isaiah Mercer said. “We started making shots. Noah (Sarria) started driving, Lucas (Gerding) started hitting 3s. We just started hitting 3s and came back.”

Four players scored in double figures for Clear Creek (7-5 overall, 3-2 3A/2A Frontier League), led by Sarria’s 25 points. Mercer added 20, while Ty Judge finished with 15 and Lucas Gerding had 12.

“I have to give a shout out to Ty Judge. Ty has stepped up and really, really been playing some great ball lately,” Clear Creek head coach John Onago said. “Now that we can count on him, it just opens up so many more doors for us.”

It was a one-point game twice in the third quarter — the final time at 39-38 – but the Golddiggers rolled from there, eventually going ahead by as much as 23 points in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t want to take anything from their ball club. They did a good job tonight of finding a way to score,” Platte Canyon head coach Justin Gallegos said. “We’ve got some key players on our team that are not up to par right now. We evidently couldn’t keep going. We got away from our offense and the looks we were trying to get and maybe got caught up in the game a little bit too much. What we really needed to do is slow it down a little bit and get the looks that we really needed. We didn’t do that.”

Otis Schmidt led the Huskies (5-6, 1-3) with 17 points. Cory Borst had 15, and Bradly Wright scored 10.

The victory was Clear Creek’s third in four games and moved it within a half game of third place in the conference.

“They’re playing great as a team. I give all the credit to the boys,” Onago said. “Their mental toughness is really off the charts right now. They’re just playing as a team. One guy is not our team, and they’re believing in that. They’re working hard to get everyone involved. I give them all the credit.”

Contact Michael Hicks, sports editor, at 303-350-1047 or sports@evergreenco.com. Follow on Twitter @MHicks12571.