State tournament berths are on the line in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A today and we’ll be following all the action with our regional tournament blog. We produced similar content last week and the traffic and feedback was excellent so we will do it again. With the blog, we’ll update state qualifiers and then try to place them in the state tournament bracket later in the day. Classes 1A and 2A are reseeded after play wraps up today while 3A continues on with their current bracket. The 3A state event is at DU; the 2A tournament is at Loveland with the 1A bracket played out at Greeley except for the finals which are moved to Loveland to join up with 2A.
Of course, you can also track results with our Boys basketball scoreboard. Click here to see the games. They’re listed in bracket order and we’ll update with quarter, halftime and final scores when available.
7:44pm: RPI standings will undergo major changes before they become official but as it stands right now the pairings for Class 1A boys look like this. This bracket is based on RPI standings completely as published Saturday afternoon. Wins by South Baca and Peetz are not factored in at this point. South Baca will move up some based on strength of schedule since Holly was unbeaten before today.
- #1 Creede vs #8 Genoa Hugo
- #4 Sangre De Cristo vs #5 Peetz
- #2 Front Range Baptist vs #7 Cornerstone Christian
- #3 Heritage Christian vs #6 South Baca
There would be a change in the 2-7 game as Front Range and Cornerstone are from the same district. If Cornerstone is swapped with Genoa Hugo, that problem goes away. But stay tuned – this is not final by any stretch.
7:27pm: South Baca finishes off the upset of defending state champion Holly 80-67 and as mentioned, it will stir up the pairings a bit. Give us some time and we’ll try to sort out everything and get projections in place.
7:12pm: If you’re not following on our Scoreboard, there’s a result in 1A that could shake up the pairings quite a bit. Through three quarters, South Baca is leading unbeaten and defending champion Holly 60-48. The Wildcats will be the number one seed if they can rally but the bracket really changes if they don’t. Peetz is also in a battle as they lead Otis by eight midway through the fourth.
7:08pm: Fresh RPI standings for Class 2A are now posted on the CHSAA website with the update set for 5:20pm. I believe all the games are entered so we don’t expect any changes to tomorrow morning. So right now the seeds for the qualifiers are in this order:
- #1 Crowley County
- #2 Yuma
- #3 Byers
- #4 Highland
- #5 Meeker
- #6 Ignacio
- #7 Ellicott
- #8 Sanford
So that gives virtually the same bracket as we expected earlier today. Will be surprised if the pairings are different from this.
- #1 Crowley County vs #8 Sanford
- #4 Highland vs #5 Meeker
- #2 Yuma vs #7 Ellicott
- #3 Byers vs #6 Ignacio
6:06pm: Cornerstone Christian picks up a very solid 74-60 win over DeBeque to earn the second available state tournament berth from the Western regional. Cornerstone is 14th in RPI and if Holly and Peetz both win their games this evening, it’s likely they would be the 7th overall seed – staying ahead of Genoa Hugo.
6:30pm: With all eight district champions advancing through the regional tournaments, the state tournament pairings could be very easy. RPI standings were updated at 1:20pm and will likely see another update yet tonight but if the committee chooses to go the RPI route officially, the pairings are very good. We list the projections in bracket order:
- #1 Crowley County vs #8 Sanford
- #4 Highland vs #5 Meeker
- #2 Yuma vs #7 Ellicott
- #3 Byers vs #6 Ignacio
4:53pm: Creede is the latest member of the 1A state tournament field. The Miners dug out a win over Kit Carson to advance from the Southeast. The Miners are currently #2 in RPI and could be the number one overall seed if defending state champion Holly is upset by South Baca. If not look for Creede to be the #2 with Front Range Baptist #3 and Heritage Christian #4.
4:47pm: Some credit to one of our readers. Craig Stavely points out that only one lower seed in the entire 2A regional tournament grabbed a win. #17 Fowler edged #16 Haxtun in overtime on Friday but otherwise higher seeds won every game. The result is the eight district champions all moved through the regional round.
4:15pm: Nice win for Ignacio over Limon so the Bobcats are the 7th team into the 2A bracket. They were 10th in RPI before the win and could move up since Limon was ranked ahead of them. The matchup will boost Ignacio’s strength of schedule.
4:04pm: Thought the 2A boys bracket would be nuts today. Sanford rallied late to stun Sedgwick County; Highland used the late three to force OT and beat Del Norte and now Calhan has rallied from 17 down to force overtime with Ellicott. Game is tied at 46.
3:56pm: With Sterling leading Delta 43-6 at halftime, I think we can safely assume the Tigers are through to the quarterfinals. And now we can set the matchups there. The 3A bracket is NOT reseeded after this weekend so the current bracket stays in place. These games are Thursday at DU with official game times likely coming from CHSAA tomorrow. In bracket order and all four games are regular season rematches.
- #1 Sterling vs #9 Strasburg
- #12 Lutheran vs #20 Colorado Academy
- #2 Alamosa vs #7 Bayfield
- #6 Faith Christian vs #14 Manual
3:50pm: Well the seeding for Yuma-Sedgwick County won’t be a factor on Sunday as Sanford rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat the Cougars 42-39. Sanford is ranked 17th in RPI this weekend and will likely be among the lower seeds. The loss by Sedgwick County means both state finalists from a year ago are not at the state tournament this year. Holyoke was eliminated in the district round.
3:45pm: Remarkable win for Highland. They use a banked in three-pointer by Trey Bessire at the end of regulation to force overtime with Del Norte. The Huskies then took the win to reach the state tournament for a second straight year. They’re 8th in RPI at this point.
3:42pm: Yuma is off to the state tournament as they blew past Evangelical Christian. The Indians are 4th in the RPI and trail Sedgwick County by two spots there even though they beat the Cougars twice. Sets up an interesting discussion on seeding if Sedgwick County survives Sanford. It’s a one point game there with 90 seconds left.
3:28pm: Colorado Academy knocks off St Mary’s 62-57 to take a regional crown. With the bracket already set, CA knows they will face Lutheran in the state quarterfinals next Thursday. the 3A state tournament is again at DU. Only one berth in the quarterfinals is available and that will go to the winner between Sterling – Delta.
3:18pm: Byers is in the 2A state tournament as they outscored Vail Christian. Bulldogs are the third team officially in and they were at #5 in RPI standings to open the day. One team ahead of them is already in (#1 Crowley County). Three others ahead of them could also get in.
3:07pm: Front Range Baptist are off to the 1A state tournament. Falcons rolled North Park and they could be in line for a very good seed. Front Range was #3 in RPI to start the day trailing only Holly and Creede. Neither the Wildcats or Miners have qualified for state yet as they will play later in the day in the 1A Southeast bracket.
2:38pm: Crowley County is the first team to reach the 2A state tournament field. Chargers had to beat Fowler for a fourth time to get into the final eight and did so in Ordway today. The Chargers were #1 in RPI going into the weekend and we don’t see that changing. As the lone unbeaten in the division, they’re almost assured of the top overall seed.
1:54pm: Strasburg advances to the 3A Great 8 with an impressive road win at DSST-Stapleton. The Indians were 9th in the bracket and DSST 8th. Again there is no reseeding for the 3A tournament after today so Strasburg meets the winner of Sterling/Delta in the state quarterfinals next Thursday.
1:52pm: Huge win for Sangre De Cristo as the T-Birds avenged two regular season losses to Sierra Grande – Sangre advances to the state tournament – sitting in 6th in RPI to open the day. Sierra Grande was fifth and the other four teams ahead of Sangre De Cristo could all advance. That would likely leave the T-Birds 5th or lower in the seeding tower but they will get a boost in opponents strength of schedule by playing Sierra Grande today.
1:13pm: Didn’t take long to get our first surprise of the day #4 Genoa Hugo upsets #3 Longmont Christian in overtime in the 1A Northeast bracket. The Pirates become first team to earn a state tournament bid today. A low seed is likely as the Pirates were 21st in RPI starting the day.
12:24pm: Learning from CHSAA that RPI standings will be updated about every four hours today with final tallies after regionals posted around 8:00am Sunday morning. So it will be a moving target today but we’ll do our best to layout potential bracket scenarios as teams qualify for state.
11:45am: First action of the day about to set as Genoa Hugo faces Longmont Christian in the 1A Northeast. Winner of course heads onto the state tournament in Greeley starting next Thursday. Longmont Christian opens play 8th in RPI with Genoa Hugo at #21. The 1A state bracket will be determined tomorrow and of course those standings will play a major role.
10:20am: First games of the day are not until 11:30am when Genoa Hugo meets Longmont Christian in the 1A Northeast. Then Strasburg tips with Denver Science in 3A at 12:00pm. Two more games are set for 1:00pm as Sangre De Cristo faces Sierra Grande in the 1A Southeast and George Washington takes on Smoky Hill in Class 5A.
9:55am: What a rollercoaster couple of weeks for St Mary’s. The Pirates finished third in the Tri Peaks league during the regular season but dropped all the way to seventh in the district tournament. They recovered to stun #4 Platte Valley in Kersey on Friday recording the biggest upset in the bracket seed-wise to date. Seed-wise they’re the underdog again today against #20 Colorado Academy but that game is too close to predict. Minus Sterling as they’ll be heavily favored against Delta today, the rest of the bracket is also filled with interesting meetings. Alamosa is seeded #2 but their battle with Grand Valley should be tight. Likewise for #3 Coal Ridge. The Titans barely escaped Frontier Academy and now must focus on the extremely talented Manual Thunderbolts. Staying in the Metro; Faith Christian and Kent Denver square off. These clubs have classic battles and it may be better suited for later in the bracket but it’s today and only the winner gets to DU. Vanguard will have their hands full with a much taller Lutheran club this afternoon. Believe the Coursers are looking for their first ever boys state tournament bid. Bayfield should be favored at home against Bayfield but Academy knocked off Resurrection Christian on Friday to build momentum. Strasburg and Denver Science is yet another expected tight game that could go either way.
9:45am: I’ve actually been waiting for this day in Class 2A for quite a few weeks. Think the talent level between the 16 teams still alive in the bracket is very close and that should make for some interesting and exciting basketball today. Add to the fact that winners earn a trip to the state tournament and the games should be very intense. If you’re looking for points, start with Vail Christian – Byers and Del Norte-Highland. Byers scored 85 points and Vail Christian 74 in their first round wins. Highland netted 77 and Del Norte 83 on Friday. All four like it up tempo so both could be track meets. Two other toss-up are games in the Southwest between Sedgwick County-Sanford and Limon-Ignacio. Winners there have enough skill to reach the Final Four or beyond next week. Simla and Meeker could be the best game of the day. Meeker is senior dominated and Simla is mostly juniors and sophomores so experience could play a role. Who knows what will happen between Calhan and Ellicott. They’ve played twice this year and split. Calhan cruised to a 73-44 win in the regular season but Ellicott won the district tournament pairing 69-61. Could be a wild game there as well. Yuma is favored at home against Evangelical Christian. A couple of wildcards for the underdogs. The Eagles are loaded with seniors so they have experience and Coach Bob Wingett has won a state championship on the 4A level with the Air Academy girls program. The Indians though also have a state championship coach with Dave Sheffield (Hi Plains) and a very good home court advantage. That leaves us with Crowley County-Fowler; two teams very familiar with one another. Today marks the SEVENTH time they will have played the last two years. Crowley County is 5-1 in the previous six but Fowler’s lone win came in the district round last year.
9:40am: We start with the 1A bracket with winners from all eight games advancing to the state tournament. On paper, the best matchup appears to be in the Southeast where Sierra Grande and Sangre De Cristo continue their long rivalry. Sierra Grande has beaten the T-Birds twice year but both games were decided by 10 points or less and that should be the case again today. Another toss-up game in that bracket has Kit Carson against Creede. The Wildcats barely survived Walsh on Friday but lived to play another day. Outsized again, the Wildcats will have to shoot it well to earn a return trip to the state tournament. Holly has easily beaten South Baca twice this year including a 63-41 decision in districts last week. But I think South Baca has enough talent to make this game closer. Holly is still the favorite to win and right now probably the state championship favorite but it could be interesting today. Holly has much more tournament experience than the Patriots as well.
