Colton Knoll didn’t lead Sierra Vista’s boys basketball team in scoring Thursday night, but he topped the Mountain Lions in just about everything else.
That’s what the team’s ultimate glue player does.
Knoll had 13 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the defending Class 4A state champs rolled to a 74-40 home win over Cheyenne.
“It’s basically anything that’s not statistically calculated,” Sierra Vista coach Joseph Bedowitz said. “That’s what he leads the team in. And without him, we’re not nearly the team that we are.”
The 6-foot-3-inch Knoll was especially important on the glass for Sierra Vista, and his rebounding will continue to be important down the stretch for the Mountain Lions (11-3, 3-0 4A Desert League), who are No. 1 in the Review-Journal’s 4A rankings.
Sierra Vista will finish the season without 7-footer Xavion Staton, who was considered the state’s top senior recruit. Staton transferred to Utah Prep this week to finish out his senior season with fellow BYU signee AJ Dybantsa.
“It’s a lot different,” Knoll said of his role without Staton. “I have to grab the majority of the boards. I have to try to make sure I’m contesting every shot and contesting every board and just make sure we have a presence in the paint.”
Sierra Vista didn’t miss Staton against Cheyenne (3-13, 2-1), as senior guard EJ Dacuma got the Mountain Lions off to a strong start and the team never faltered. Dacuma hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 14 points in the first quarter as Sierra Vista jumped out to an early advantage. He finished with a game-high 23 points.
“EJ is the heart and soul of this team, and he always has been,” Bedowitz said. “The team goes as he goes. I feel that the team plays better and gives more effort when he’s on the floor.”
The Mountain Lions also were without starting guard Jevon Yapi, but Bedowitz said the team was just trying to give him some extra rest to get healthy. Yapi is expected to play Saturday against Liberty.
Bedowitz said losing Staton is a blow for the defense, but the team is making adjustments now that it no longer has a real rim protector in the paint.
“We had to change some things defensively, some philosophies defensive-wise that we started in practice and implemented a little bit tonight,” Bedowitz said. “We’re going to continue to work on those things.”
Part of that plan is to make teams pay for turnovers, and Sierra Vista certainly did that against Cheyenne. The Mountain Lions forced 28 turnovers and turned them into 33 points.
“That’s going to be huge,” Knoll said of turning defense into offense. “Considering we don’t have a super big guy, we’ve got to play great defense and force a lot of turnovers. We’ve got to run in transition. We’ve got to get easy buckets.”
Freshman Tristen Porter added 10 points, and senior Darius Ruffin grabbed nine rebounds for Sierra Vista, which held a 46-20 advantage on the boards.
Cheyenne’s Phoenix Dalton hit three first-quarter 3-pointers to help the Desert Shields stay close early, but ultimately the team couldn’t overcome the turnovers and rebound margin. Dalton finished with a team-high 12 points.