5A boys basketball Final 4: Silver Creek to meet Lutheran for title

DENVER – In Bob Banning’s final year, Silver Creek is in line for a big program first.

The Raptors continue to survive and advance as they topped Lewis-Palmer 51-47 in the Class 5A boys basketball Final 4, putting them in line to win the program’s first state championship on Saturday.

Luke Schmeeckle led the Raptors with 18 points while also pulling down a team-high seven rebounds. He’ll get one more chance this season to show out in front of a Silver Creek community that turned out in droves to root on the Raptors at Denver Coliseum.

“We had a great student body,” Schmeeckle said. “We have one of the best communities in all of high school. We have elementary school [support], middle school, teachers coming. I have family coming from all over, everyone has family coming from all all over. It’s just a community.”

The Rangers led by four at halftime, but the Raptors cut that lead in half after the third before gaining a definitive edge in the fourth quarter.

Nate Darnell came off the bench to lead the Rangers with 13 points.

The 5A boys championship game is set for Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

Lutheran 77, Windsor 70

All Lutheran wanted to do was get to the last practice of the year. But to do that, the Lions had to get through defending state champion Windsor.

They took the task to heart and battled their way to a 77-70 win in the Class 5A boys basketball Final 4.

Kade Speckman scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Lutheran to its first state championship game since 2021, when the Lions beat St. Mary’s to win the 3A title.

Madden Smiley scored a game-high 32 points to try and get the Wizards back into the title game for the second year in a row. Lutheran and Silver Creek will meet in Saturday’s state championship game. This is the first time they will have faced each other in the MaxPreps era.