Cherry Creek and Rock Canyon led the craziness on the hardwood over the last week as they needed four overtimes to decide their game on Wednesday night.
The Bruins eventually edged the Jaguars, 82-78.
Four OTs of extra basketball, there were career nights to be had. Among them, junior Jeremiah Hammond followed up his 25-point performance two days earlier with a career-high 36 points in the win. Senior Kasen Lehman scored a career-high 31 in the loss.
Below are a few of the biggest performances from the last week in 6A-4A boys’ basketball.
Class 6A
No. 36 Cherry Creek: Though 5-7 on the year, the Bruins might be a more dangerous team than their current ranking suggests.
They came into Wednesday’s four-overtime win over Rock Canyon on a six-game losing streak — four of which were decided by single digits.
They fumbled a big lead late in their 70-64 loss to No. 4 Regis Jesuit, which outscored them 23-6 in the fourth quarter.
Four days before that, they let another fourth-quarter lead slip in a 59-51 loss to No. 39 Doherty.
But from loss, there can be redemption. And in arguably the most entertaining game of the season in 6A — certainly the longest in the duration — they outlasted a Jaguars team that had beaten them the past two seasons.
No. 2 Ralston Valley: The Mustangs opened play in the 6A JeffCo League with a bit of a flex.
They beat No. 53 Bear Creek by 40 on Monday behind Caiden Braketa’s 20 points. His brother, Tanner, then had 18 in a 90-29 win over No. 44 Chatfield two days later.
On Friday, they host defending champ Valor Christian (9-3). Speaking of which …
Valor Christian’s Cole Scherer: The senior leads the state with 30.6 points per game.
He’s scored at least 30 in five of his last six games. In the Eagles’ win over Chatfield on Monday, he went 6 of 11 from deep and had 34 points.
No. 1 Rangeview: Rangeview’s LaDavian King, Archie Weatherspoon V and Northfield’s Judah Michael traded offensive highlights when they met up Tuesday.
Weatherspoon V had 23 points on 56% shooting, while King had 23 on a 50% clip as the Raiders improved to 11-0.
Michael had 23 points to go along with nine rebounds as the No. 17 Nighthawks (7-3) dropped their first game in more than a month.
Class 5A
No. 1 Discovery Canyon: Tuesday’s 77-48 win over No. 16 Liberty has the Thunder (11-1) atop the 5A rankings.
In it, they held the Lancers — who were averaging 71.2 PPG — to their lowest output since Liberty’s 47-44 win over two-time defending champ Mesa Ridge on Dec. 3. The Grizzlies are currently ranked second in the class.
They also got another big night from 6-foot-10 Noah Eckels. He finished with 18 points and three blocks.
No. 10 Longmont: Following an 0-3 start, the Trojans (8-3) pushed their win streak to eight games in a 59-42 win over Standley Lake on Wednesday.
Sophomore Ty Gaddis led the way with 19 points. Joey Foot had 10 points, 11 boards, four assists and five steals.
Eagle Valley senior Dylan Zoller: Zoller (or ‘Zoller, Zoller Bills Ya’ll’ as he should be known) is doing a bit of everything for No. 11 Eagle Valley this season.
His stats line reads like a paragraph: 17.9 PPG, 2.9 APG, 7.2 RPG, 2.7 SPG and 1.9 BPG.
In an 80-56 win over No. 51 Grand Junction Central on Tuesday, he finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists, seven steals and three blocks.
Three days before that, he shot 6 of 7, scoring 18 in a win over 4A No. 46 Rifle.
Class 4A
No. 2 Kent Denver: The Sun Devils (11-2) scored 100 points on consecutive nights, beating The Academy 100-59 on Wednesday, then Jefferson Academy 100-74 on Thursday.
Caleb Fay, who leads 4A at 24 PPG, scored 25 and 33 in the wins. The latter came against a JA team that has two players — Josh Neely (19.6 PPG) and Jimeto Orji (18.1) — in the top 10 in 4A scoring.
DSST: College View’s Isaias Tomita: The senior is second in 4A with eight double-doubles. But he’s doing it via points and steals.
Tomita leads the state averaging 10.7 steals per game.
In his last seven games, he’s scored at least 19 with double-digit steals in each.
He recorded his second triple-double of the season in a 64-53 win over DSST: Cedar on Tuesday, finishing with 19 points, 10 assists and 11 steals.
He had a quadruple-double back in December, when he finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and 12 steals in a win over Lincoln.
Peak to Peak’s Evan Eschmeyer: The senior had a career-high six 3s in the No. 1 Pumas’ 58-49 win over 5A No. 24 Green Mountain a week ago.
He went 6 of 10 from deep.