Boys’ basketball for Wednesday is highlighted by matchups in the 3A Tri Peaks and 4A Northern conference. In both cases, the top four clubs in each collide in two very important matchups. First place in the 5A Centennial is also on the line when Cherry Creek meets Eaglecrest. Chatfield also looks to sew up the Jeffco crown against Valor Christian.
A preview of the top matchups across all classes is available below. We produce this type of content each day of the season. Final scores will be posted inside the story and they can be sent to us by text to 970.380.7737 or by email to [email protected].
Photo by Steve Abeyta.
CLASS 2A
FINAL: #2 Wray beat Flatirons Academy 77-39
NOTES: Playing on a neutral court in Brush, pace will be important in this one. With 561 points over seven games, Wray (80.1) is among the highest scoring teams in any class across Colorado. They’ve totaled over 80 in four games with a season low of 70 coming in last week’s 29-point win over Sedgwick County. Conversely, Flatirons (4-1) has scored 263 points in five games; an average of 52.6. Bryant Schoenthal tops Wray with 19 points and 10 rebounds an outing. Junior Arambula addes 15.7 points, nine assists and nearly five steals. Sam Uyemura (14.3) and Jaden Dodsworth (10.7) also average double figures in high-paced attack. Flatirons was unbeaten until the loss to Evangelical Christian (62-55) on Saturday. They also topped Dayspring Christian (52-50) two days earlier. The senior tandem of Cody Koehn (12.8) and Russell Kingery (11.8) lead the offense while Trenton Rowan is close to averaging a double with 9.8 points and 9.8 rebounds each night.
CLASS 3A
FINAL: #1 St Mary’s beat Salida 88-59
#3 Manitou Springs vs Buena Vista (PPD)
FINAL: #9 Manual beat DSST-Green Valley 71-51
NOTES: Very important night inside the Tri Peaks where the two leaders, St Mary’s and Manitou Springs, battle third place clubs Salida and Buena Vista. Upsets in both could result in a four-way tie for the conference lead going into the weekend but wins by St Mary’s and Manitou Springs put them two games up on all others and basically make it a two-team chase. Salida’s lone loss is by one point to Manitou Springs. They’ve played just once since; beating Florence 49-30. Nine players scored; led by Jonah Ellis with 14. He’s one of three double figure scorers on the season (11.0), joining Myles Godina (12.7) and Leif Gislason (10.8). St Mary’s was held under 80 points for just the second time all-season last Saturday but still managed a 63-60 win over Colorado Springs Christian. The difference may have been turnovers where the Pirates committed just 10 compared to 18 for the Lions. Sam Howery and Luke Stockelman each dropped in 18 for the Pirates. Manitou Springs has outscored seven opponents by 171 points; holding four teams below 35 points. Buena Vista sees the court for the first time since suffering a critical loss to Vanguard (48-29) last Saturday. It was the Coursers first win of the season and knocked the Demons out of first place. They also meet St Mary’s on Friday so their title hopes are on the line this week. Against Vanguard, the Demons made just 10 of 40 shots including two of 15 from the arc. Connor Scott had nine points and nine rebounds. Manual has an important Metro league meeting with Kent Denver on Thursday so they’d like to make quick work of DSST-Green Valley this evening. They did just that on Tuesday night; beating Denver North 86-51 for a third straight win. Jordan Reed (22), Abel Maes (18) and Jaylin Jaynes (15) combined for 55 points in the win. Green Valley lost to Colorado Academy (69-38) in their opener but has won four of their last five.
CLASS 4A
FINAL: #2 Windsor beat #1 Mead 69-59
FINAL: #3 Longmont beat Greeley Central 54-37
FINAL: D’Evelyn beat #6 Evergreen 57-51
FINAL: Holy Family beat #8 Erie 56-53
FINAL: #10 Centaurus beat Greeley West 64-44
NOTES: More shuffling is set for tonight in the Northern conference where four of the top five clubs meet in two head-to-head battles. Mead and Windsor is a one versus two battle so it will draw most of the attention even after the Wizards lost to Erie earlier in the week. That result left Mead alone atop the league standings (4-0) with Windsor dropping into a second-place tie with Erie, Holy Family and Longmont. All four clubs are 3-1. A Mead victory gives them some space away from one of their top contenders and keeps them alone in first. A Windsor win leaves a strong possibility of a four-way tie for the league lead with Mead, Longmont and the Erie-Holy Family winner. Windsor’s offense went for a season low 59 points against Erie. They led by seven after one quarter but were outscored 62-43 the rest of the way. Mead is unbeaten but tested in single digit wins over Greeley Central (57-48) and Thompson Valley (58-51). They’ve hit 49 three-pointers this season; including 16 from Elijah Knudsen and 15 from Nick Basson. Those two are first and third in scoring; combining for 29 points per game. In-between is big center James Shiers (14.5). He also grabs 9.8 rebounds a game and blocks nearly five shots (4.8). Erie’s win Monday kept them in the title picture and it balanced out a tough loss to Silver Creek (65-58) last week. Four players reached double figures in scoring; Cole Rademacher had 16, Kayan Hargrave 15, Kevin Loy 12 and Jordan Nguyen (10). They’ll hope to keep that balance against a surging Holy Family program that has won three straight following a 1-3 start. They too scored a mild upset of Longmont on Monday; downing the Trojans 58-50 behind 22 from Esrom Abraha and 16 from Eric Quintana. Longmont should bounce back and keep pace against Greeley Central while Centaurus keeps an upper division finish alive by beating Greeley West. Evergreen (6-0) leads the Jeffco and can stay there with a win over D’Evelyn. The Jags had won three straight before suffering back-to-back losses to Golden and Green Mountain last week.
CLASS 5A
FINAL: #1 Cherry Creek beat Eaglecrest 66-57
FINAL: #7 Fossil Ridge beat Fort Collins 82-47
FINAL: Grandview beat #9 Overland 52-46
FINAL: Fairview beat Horizon 75-61
FINAL: Valor Christian beat Chatfield 64-61
NOTES: Cherry Creek (6-0) has played twice the number of league games than Eaglecrest (3-0) but tonight’s winner grabs the outright lead in the Centennial. The Bruins’ climb to the top has not been completely easy as they have tight wins over Arapahoe (70-60) and Smoky Hill (79-70) on their resume this year. Eaglecrest is not ranked because of non-league losses to Fossil Ridge (81-75) and Chaparral (66-47) but they’ve won each of their Centennial matchups by 12 points or more. Leading scorer Ty Robinson (15.6) was a bit below his average in two league wins last week; combining for 24 points against Arapahoe and Mullen. Julian Hammond (21.0) tops the Bruins scoring list and is coming off a 27-point display against Cherokee Trail. He’s shooting 53 percent from the field (47-88) overall. Overland (4-1) needs a win to stay a game off the pace. A win leaves them in a second-place tie with the Creek-Eaglecrest loser. Chatfield clinches the Jeffco championship by beating Valor Christian tonight. The Chargers (6-0) leads the Eagles (5-1) by one game in the league standings with two conference games left. Valor though moves into a first-place tie and earns the tiebreaker with a win. That would allow them to grab the top trophy by beating Bear Creek on Friday. Amondo Miller (18.5) continues to pace Valor’s offense. He’s scored at least 16 points in all but one game this year. AJ Kula (15.8) is next on the list and both pull down over seven rebounds a game. Chase Miller (15.3) and Dylan Carter (13.9) average double figures for the Chargers with Ethan Johnson (9.1) and Nate Jacobsen (8.0) also close. Three others chip in six to seven points a game in a very balanced Chatfield attack. Horizon and Fairview are both 4-0 in the Front Range and tied with Fossil Ridge in first. The winner remains there if the Sabercats also win at Fort Collins (0-3). Fossil Ridge meets Horizon on the 24th and Fairview on March 3re.
