A busy night in the 3A Patriot, some important games in the 4A Northern and first place battles in the 4A Jeffco ,4A CS Metro and 5A Centennial highlight the Wednesday boys’ basketball schedule. We set the stage in our Wednesday report.
CLASS 2A
FINAL: Colorado Springs School beat Calhan 55-53
NOTES: This is a key game in the Black Forest. Colorado Springs School opens play at 1-0 in league and tied with Peyton (2-0) in first place. Calhan (0-1) has a loss to Peyton on their resume so they must win to stay in contention as each team gets only four conference games. The Kodiaks’ league win is against Dolores Huerta Prep (41-37). They shot just 25 percent from the field but got the win thanks to 10 points apiece from Nathan Sobral and Ben McCurdy. Calhan beat Ellicott and Elbert to open but lost to Peyton 47-23 last Thursday. The Bulldogs were just 7 of 38 from the field (18%) including a paltry 1 of 17 from the beyond the arc.
CLASS 3A
FINAL: Strasburg beat #6 Resurrection Christian 58-56
FINAL: #7 Sterling beat Liberty Common 80-38
FINAL: Estes Park beat #10 Eaton 62-60
FINAL: Brush beat Platte Valley 60-52
NOTES: The Patriot league takes center stage tonight as all four games listed are inside the conference. The race is still very early with Sterling (2-0), Resurrection Christian (2-0) and Brush (1-0) holding a one game lead on Strasburg, Frontier Academy, Eaton and Estes Park. Strasburg already has a loss to Sterling so another tonight puts them in tough shape concerning a league title. They have momentum from a 66-38 win over Valley last Thursday where they exploded for 49 second half points. Daniel Alvarado, with 14, led three Indians in double digits. Resurrection Christian has reeled off three straight wins including an impressive 82-68 win over Eaton six days ago. They scored at least 20 in every quarter; getting 27 points from Wade Shields. He and Will Schrotenboer both hit three treys. Eaton picked up a career best 35 points from Scott Grable in the loss. He hit six treys and boosted his season scoring average to almost 28 per game. Sterling edged Manual (54-52) on Saturday as Jackson Keil finished with 23 points. He had four of the Tigers eight three-pointers.
CLASS 4A
FINAL: #1 Mead beat Greeley West 73-56
FINAL: #2 Windsor beat Skyline 84-25
FINAL: #3 Longmont beat #9 Centaurus 43-40
FINAL: Silver Creek beat #5 Erie 65-58
FINAL: #7 Evergreen beat Green Mountain 54-41
FINAL: #10 Montrose beat Moffat County 67-41
FINAL: Elizabeth beat Falcon 68-63
NOTES: Mead, Windsor, Longmont, Centaurus and Erie are all inside the Northern conference so the eventual champion will have earned the crown. The first of many high-quality battles is set for tonight between top 10’s Longmont and Centaurus. Longmont moved past rival Silver Creek (52-35) in their league opener while the Warriors bounced Holy Family 55-36. Dashiel Walker, with 11 points, led nine Warriors into the scoring column during their win. He’s third overall in scoring at 8.5 per game; trailing Mario Everett (11.5) and John Lewicki (10.8). Longmont gets a team best 18 points per game from Keegan Patterson and 15.5 from Eddie Kurjak. They combined for 37 of the Trojans 52 points vs Silver Creek. Early Jeffco standings have Green Mountain and Evergreen sharing the top spot at 3-0. That means tonight’s winner will stand alone in first. Both teams have been strong defensively in league play with the Rams allowing 96 points and the Cougars 113. Green Mountain though has a big advantage offensively as they’re scoring 79 per game in league play to just 49 for Evergreen. Austin Peterson (16.4) tops the Rams scoresheet including 22 in the blowout of Alameda. Evergreen picked up 14 from Griffin Lauritano, 12 from Jared Stiller and 10 from Jackson Mott in their quality win over Wheat Ridge (55-41). Falcon and Elizabeth have the same scenario inside the CS Metro as both are 3-0 in league play. Both are also 3-2 overall so it should be a tight battle. Montrose and Moffat County pairs two unbeatens against one another in non-league play. Montrose moved to 5-0 by beating Grand Junction 63-45 on Tuesday; Moffat County (3-0) last played Saturday in a win over 4A Grand Junction Central (48-34).
CLASS 5A
FINAL: #1 Cherry Creek beat #8 Overland 78-55
FINAL: #2 Rangeview beat Adams City 95-27
FINAL: Douglas County beat #5 George Washington 76-58
FINAL: #9 Fossil Ridge beat Loveland 94-64
FINAL: Poudre beat Boulder 53-50
FINAL: Horizon beat Legacy 71-56
NOTES: Nothing new about having an important game in the Centennial tonight as that seems to be the case almost every day of the 5A schedule. The Bruins (4-0) and Blazers (3-0) share the top spot with Eaglecrest (1-0) nearing the midway point of the conference schedule. It’s the first of two battles as they will collide again on March 2nd. Creek has held the top spot in the rankings each week of the season but has been pushed a couple of times already. They beat back Arapahoe by 10 points in their opener and last week outscored Smoky Hill 79-70. Myles Purchase dropped in 23 points to lead four players in double figures. Julian Hammond added 19, Chase Penry 14 and Blake Purchase 13. Overland, of course, has great tradition but this is their first appearance in the polls this year. They bested Mullen 77-61 in their last outscoring the Mustangs 40-15 in a strong first half. Jameel Wright poured in 24 while Brian Lamptey and Remy Wedgeworth each finished with 13. Legacy and Horizon (2-0) are part of a four-team logjam with Fossil Ridge and Fairview atop the Front Range. The winner keeps pace while the loser falls into a fourth place tie with the Poudre-Boulder winner (both 1-1) and Rocky Mountain if the Lobos also get by Broomfield tonight. Legacy is also unbeaten overall and will go in as the slight favorite. Gavin Poxson leads them with 17.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Horizon features four players in double figures; topped by Xavier Harris at 15.6 per game. Coby Jimenez also adds nearly 10 rebounds a contest.
