BROOMFIELD >> Sub-30 degree temperatures couldn’t contain the fire that Broomfield and Legacy boys basketball put out on the hardwood of Legacy High School on Saturday afternoon.

From start to finish, the high-intensity, high-velocity rivalry game could have broken either way, even when Broomfield took multiple double-digit advantages. One final dagger, a 3-point stunner from Broomfield senior Derek Duplechin in the final two minutes, pushed the Eagles on the path to victory with a 61-53 final.

This win was personal.

“I was just letting it fly today,” Duplechin said. “They got us last year at our house and we focused on coming in here, playing our game and taking them down at their place. I think social media plays a big aspect into the talking trash between the two schools leading up to the game. It kind of just boils the blood and makes everybody go that extra step to go harder in the game.”

Duplechin lit it up from behind the arc to deliver not one, not two but four 3-pointers en route to 13 points, and was the only Eagle to eclipse the double-digit scoring mark. Sophomore Joey Cook didn’t lag too far behind with nine of his own. Nine Eagles in all got on the board by game’s end.

The Lightning, likewise, enjoyed offensive production from eight Bolts, led by senior forward Bryce Spradling’s 12 points and junior point guard Brandon Domsch’s 11. The Eagles improved to 9-4 and 3-3 in Class 6A Front Range League whereas the Lightning fell to 9-4 and 3-2.

“We’re confident with where we stand. We still think that we can beat anybody in this league. We can go compete with anyone in the state,” Legacy head coach Connor Clay said. “We compete every possession. Shots didn’t go our way. Broomfield made shots and we missed easy shots that we usually make, so I’m confident in that. We’re getting to the rim. We’re getting the shots we want or forcing them to take tougher ones.”

The Eagles opened the game with a nine-point streak, forcing Clay to call a timeout to right the ship. The Lightning responded and, before the first quarter came to a close, decreased that gap while still trailing 14-9. The teams continued trading blows until halftime, when the Eagles once again increased their margin to nine points and a 26-17 advantage.

That theme held true until midway through the third quarter, as Legacy’s improved rebounding and intensity on offense began to take over. A 36-26 deficit was just the spark the Bolts needed to put themselves back in contention.

Domsch came alive over the next five minutes, netting six points while driving the rest of his team’s offense until Legacy tied the contest up at 43, then again at 45.

The Bolts made it a game again.

“I feel like everybody just has nerves but the adrenaline kind of kicks in and just takes over,” Spradling, who sunk a couple of points during that stretch, said. “You’re not thinking about the crowd or what’s going to happen afterwards. You’re just thinking about the moment. I feel like that’s why everybody plays so well in the big rivalry games.”

The large crowd, which represented both teams well, held onto every basket that transpired from there on out with bated breath and raucous applause. The Bolts continued to pressure the Eagles on both ends of the floor until Duplechin’s downtown drainer, with under two minutes remaining, irrevocably turned the tides in Broomfield’s favor with a 55-51 lead.

“In a rivalry game, there’s always a lot of emotion,” Broomfield head coach Terrence Dunn said. “It doesn’t really matter what the records are, and that sort of thing. Everyone’s going to come hard and they’re going to really come to play and they’re going to give it everything they have.”

Now, the Eagles will look to string together wins when they head to an 8-5 Rocky Mountain on Tuesday while the Lightning will look to rebound at home against 6-7 Boulder on the same night.

“We’ve been kind of on some highs and lows,” Dunn added. “I really liked how steady we were even with Canon (Juarez) getting into foul trouble and some other things. We did a really good job, I think, keeping the energy high, especially the defensive energy. I think we did a really good job on the boards tonight, and that’s been something we’ve been trying to emphasize. And we did a real good job of just keeping our cool. They made a run at the start of that fourth quarter, and we came back and matched that run and got stops and buckets and then got the lead back.”