Wednesday is normally a limited basketball schedule across the state but there are four games on the boys basketball schedule that will impact league championships by seasons end. They are spread across four divisions from 2A to 5A.
Photo by Lance Wendt
Starting in the 2A Black Forest, there’s a good rivalry game between Peyton (6-4) and Calhan (4-6). Peyton is favored as they’ve played the stronger schedule with losses coming to 2A ranked Limon, Denver Christian and Sanford along with 3A Colorado Springs Christian. They carry a three-game winning streak into the game including 20 point wins over Center and Rocky Ford last week. Gage Gellerman (24) and AJ Lashley (21) combined for 45 points against Rocky Ford. Calhan needs the upset to end a three game slide and they’ve also lost five of seven overall. Their last win came against Kiowa on January 7th where they outscored the Indians 23-4 in the third quarter.
The 3A Frontier standings will look much different on Sunday than they do before tonight’s action. Pinnacle, DSST-Montview, Platte Canyon and Middle Park are all unbeaten in conference games and share the early lead. The first two meet tonight and the last two collide on Thursday. Pinnacle also plays Platte Canyon on Saturday.
The Timberwolves have won seven of their first eight with league wins over Academy (71-68) and KIPP Collegiate (65-15) last week. Robert McClinton, with 23 points per game, is their top scorer and he exploded for 30 points in the key win over Academy. He scored just 15 against KIPP but played very few minutes in the blowout win.
Montview is below water on the season (4-5) but their schedule stacks up against any 3A club statewide. Losses are against University, Manual, Kent Denver, Resurrection Christian and Faith Christian which have all spent time or are currently in the 3A Top 10 this week. That schedule could make them the favorite tonight and a win could push them to another league championship. Their lone league game was against Sheridan last week where they jumped to a 43-10 halftime lead on their way to a 69-20 blowout.
Up in 4A, rivals Green Mountain and D’Evelyn meet for the first of two games tonight. D’Evelyn is 5-0 in the conference and alone in first while Green Mountain shares second place with Standley Lake one game off the pace.
Both teams have seen their toughest league game against Golden and they had differing results. The Jags collected a 74-62 overtime victory and otherwise have won their league games by at least 21 points. Green Mountain fell to the Demons 48-38 last week but responded with a 47-31 win over Evergreen.
Both teams have balance on offense. D’Evelyn has four double digit scorers including Troy Benko who averages a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds a game. Green Mountain features three seniors at at least 10 points a game. Corbin Jantzer is second on that list with 13.9 points per game and he also tops the Rams with seven rebounds a contest.
Up in 5A, we focus on the Centennial league pairing of Cherry Creek (5-6) and Overland (3-9). As you can see, neither has a glittering record but they enter the game sharing the early conference lead with Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill. All four clubs have one league loss.
Creek has won three straight including in their exciting 67-65 win over Smoky Hill last Saturday. The Bruins led by 10 after three quarters and had to hold on against the highly ranked Buffs. Trevon Chambers led the scoring with 21 points; Carey Booth added 18 and Blake Purchase 14. All three are juniors. Overland is just 1-8 outside the conference but they have a big 61-48 win over an Arapahoe team that handed Cherry Creek their only league loss. Victor Harp scored 22 and Jayden Kelsey 13 in their most recent over Mullen. Kelsey is just a freshman.
