A couple of top five matchups are on boys’ basketball schedule this week and in several other cases, ranked teams go up one or two and even three classes to face a larger school. We look at the best matchups in the final days of action before the Christmas break.
CLASS 1A
Both clubs have to win quarterfinal matchups on Thursday but it appears that Kit Carson and Holly will square off in the Lamar Holiday Tournament semifinals. Each team enters the bracket ranked 6th in their respective class and the game could actually turn out to be the best game in tournament with the winner likely battling Walsh for the championship on Saturday night. Walsh is favored to advance from the lower half of the bracket against the likes of Eads, Granada, and Wiley.
Kit Carson had the opening week of the season off and then split games against Limon and Wiley in week two. After going cold from the outside in the second half in the loss to Limon, the Wildcats knocked in eight three pointers in the 24-point win over Wiley. Sullivan Farmer had four of them and he finished with a team best 16 points. David Arnold and Brayden Bogenhagen each converted two. Lawrence Lucero poured in a game best 29 points for the Panthers as he hit 12 of 22 shots.
Holly has won the Lamar tournament title for five straight years. They enter the bracket with three lopsided wins over Swallows Charter (34), Springfield (27) and Rocky Ford (26) by a combined 87 points. Stats on the Wildcats are not available but the team leaders going into the season included Brigden Parker, Omar Moreno and Diego Tamayo. They are much smaller than in year’s past with no player standing taller than 6-1.
The Wildcats meet McClave on Thursday and Kit Carson meets Springfield.
Longmont Christian entered the 1A rankings at number eight this week and they have an interesting matchup with Regis Groff. The Fusion are just 1-5 on the season but they play in the 4A/5A City League so it’s a big jump up for Longmont Christian. L-C is 2-0 with easy wins over Addenbrooke Academy and Denver Jewish Day by at least 21 points apiece. Ryan Shellenberger (15.0), Nick Holst (11.5) and Caleb Schanafelt (11.0) are all double-digit scorers for the Warriors.
CLASS 2A
The schedule is filled with ranked teams facing quality teams from larger classifications and the slate opened on Tuesday with top ranked Yuma surviving at Brush 55-50 and continues later in the week with #8 Mancos meeting Montezuma Cortez and #9 Vail Christian challenging Aspen. #3 Fowler also faces Colorado Springs Christian in the second game of their own tournament.
Yuma remains unbeaten against Colorado and sits 4-1 overall following the win over Brush. Chase McCreath dropped in 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Clay Robinson added 13 and Rolando Caraveo 11. Both also finished with three steals. The Indians close the December schedule at home against Simla on Friday.
For Mancos, the game with Cortez on Thursday will be their second of the week against a neighboring larger school. They fell to 4A Durango 61-58 on Monday despite a combined 43 points from Connor Showalter (18), Caden Showalter (13) and Christian Cova (12). Cova also hit three of five three-point attempts.
Montezuma Cortez has also played Durango as they downed the Demons 59-46 in their season opener. Titus Jackson led the way with 21 points and Teagan Whiteskunk provided 15 in the win. They combined to hit 14 of 28 shots from the field.
Since that win, the Panthers are 3-2 with both losses coming to Utah opponents last week. They return a nice nucleus from a team that won 19 games and made the 3A Great 8.
Vail Christian is off to a 3-0 start including a 59-56 win over 4A Eagle Valley on December 10th. They go to Aspen this Thursday. In the win over Eagle Valley, the Saints rallied from seven down to start the fourth quarter by outscoring the Devils 21-10 in the final eight minutes. Jamison Lee and Alec Moritz each scored 24 to pace the comeback. Free throws were important to both players; Moritz went 11 of 15 from there with Lee six of seven.
Aspen has won their last two since opening with losses to Rifle and Mancos. The loss to Mancos came in the opening round of the Meeker Tournament but the Skiers responded with two wins to win the fifth-place trophy. A win gets the Skiers nearly half the win total of last season when they ended up 7-14.
In addition to facing Colorado Springs Christian on Saturday, Fowler also lines up against Limon the night before. They host their own tournament and both games will help them in RPI and get them ready for another state tournament push after Christmas. The Grizzlies are 3-1 with the lone loss coming to Centauri in the first round of the La Junta tournament last week.
As expected, Val Leone (17.8), Johnathon Mobbley (13.0) and Gabe Proctor (12.8) pace the Grizzlies in scoring. All three played pivotal minutes in leading the Grizzlies to a third-place finish at state a year ago. Mobbley is also pulling down a team best 12 rebounds and Proctor dishing out nearly five assists.
Limon responded to a home loss to Ignacio by moving past Kit Carson 50-38 on the road last week. They’re 2-1 overall. The Badgers outscored the Wildcats 19-7 in the second and 16-5 in the fourth to gain the win.
Colorado Springs Christian is also 2-1 with a loss to top ranked Lutheran (68-52) as their only blemish. The Lions also meet Rocky Ford on Friday. Caleb Stockton, with 23 points per game, is their main offensive threat. Josh Erickson is close to a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds per game.
CLASS 3A
4th ranked Sterling is involved in both of our top game selections in this division as they face both Fort Morgan (4A) and #3 Faith Christian to close out December. The first battle took place on Tuesday as the Tigers were pushed before scoring a 72-63. The Tigers led 21-13 after one period and that margin basically stood up the rest of the way. Brock Shalla netted 25 points in leading the Tigers to their fourth win in five games.
They’ll shoot for number five in Arvada on Saturday. The Eagles are also 4-1 but they also face 4A D’Evelyn on Thursday so their record will be different when the game tips off. The Eagles were stunned by Alamosa (56-53) on day one of the Glenwood Springs tournament last week but they also scored wins over Denver Christian and Moffat County while out west.
Caleb Ruter leads three Eagles in double figures with nearly 18 points a game. He also tops the team in rebounds (9.6) and blocks (2.8). Caleb Clark (13.4) and Isaiah Kroll (13.2) are next in scoring and combine for eight rebounds and nearly six assists each contest.
Also want to mention Centauri on our weekly report. The Falcons have two games on tap this week and both are on the road. They’ll be favored at Cedaredge on Friday and at Delta on Saturday. Wins in both will get them to 8-0 before Christmas.
The Falcons were very impressive at the La Junta tournament last weekend; beating Fowler 59-54 in round one and then blowing past Sanford (64-37) and Monte Vista (59-26) to win the championship. Entering the tournament, Baron Holman was the Falcons’ second leading scorer (11.3) but he may move to the top after nailing seven three-pointers in the championship win over Monte Vista.
