With basketball season now underway, Colorado Preps continues its look at the top players and teams from each conference across the state. Today we look at all the teams inside the 2A Southern Peaks.
Sanford collected the most wins of league members last year as the Indians picked up 17. Their season came to a close in the regional finals as they were upset by Denver Christian 36-34. Sargent was a second league club to reach the finals at regional where they came up short to eventual state semifinalist Holly 31-26. Del Norte was eliminated from the post-season one round earlier as they lost to Sedgwick County 54-50 in their regional tournament opener.
South Park is also coming off a solid 2018-19 campaign as their 11 wins were the most in the MaxPreps era; dating back to the 2005-06 season.
We list the top three returnees for each club in several categories. Numbers are based on stats posted to MaxPreps during the 2018-19 season.
Sanford (17-6)
- Points: Clay Canty (9.5), Thomas Faucette (8.0), Ruben Chavez (1.8)
- Rebounds: Canty (3.7), Faucette (3.6), Chavez (3.0)
- Assists: Faucette (1.9), Canty (1.5), Chavez (0.6)
- Three’s: Canty (19), Faucette (10), Trenton Koenig & Kelton Gartrell (1)
Del Norte (14-9)
- Points: Cole Jones (9.0), Logan Cestone (4.6), Brennan Velasquez & Joel Rosales (1.0)
- Rebounds: Cestone (3.1), Rosales (1.5), Juan Rodriguez (0.4)
- Assists: Cestone (0.4), Velasquez (0.3), Rosales (0.2)
- Three’s: Cestone (5), Jones (3)
Sargent (15-9)
- Points: Kage Pepper (8.6), Nathan Garcia (2.7), Cole Seger (1.9)
- Rebounds: Pepper & Garcia (50), Seger (37)
- Assists: Garcia (26), Pepper (20), Seger (7)
- Three’s: Pepper (54), Blake Behil (6), Seger (5)
South Park (11-7)
- Points: Michael Kelly (8.1), Leonardo Banuelos (5.4), Elias Esparza (2.7)
- Rebounds: Kelly (7.9), Esparza (5.1), Banuelos (3.8)
- Assists: Banuelos (1.5), Kelley (0.8), Banuelos (0.6)
- Three’s: Banuelos (1)
Center (7-16)
- Points: Devin Porres (16.9), Habran DeLaCruz (10.6), Evan Hurtado (7.2)
- Rebounds: Diego Velez & Hurtado (5.2), Porres (4.2)
- Assists: Porres (1.0), DeLaCruz (0.4), Abraham Echauri & Hurtado (0.2)
- Three’s: Porres (35), DeLaCruz (28), Victor Almeida (7)
Crested Butte (5-14)
- Points: Erik Wasinger (6.1), Ethan Bacani (5.7), Nico Marchitelli (2.2)
- Rebounds: Marchitelli (3.2), Murphy Smith (2.3), Wasinger & Bacani (1.8)
- Assists: Bacani (2.0), Wasinger (1.4), Marchitelli (0.9)
- Three’s: Wasinger & Bacani (13), Marchitelli (1)
Custer County (3-17)
- Points: Patrick Post (8.4), Wesley Curtis (5.3), Ben Penkoff (4.2)
- Rebounds: Post (3.5), Curtis (3.1), Penkoff (2.2)
- Assists: Penkoff & Post (1.7), Curtis (1.3)
- Three’s: Post (18), Curtis (17), Penkoff (3)