Ball Fever: Recapping the tournament’s early rounds, looking ahead to Sweet 16 and Great 8
Well hoop fans, it is on now! We had a few No. 2 seeds lose early in Class 4A, but the remainder of the brackets played out well for the 1’s and 3’s.
We expect some shake up and surprises in the coming week! Let’s check out how we got here:
Week in review:
5A Round 1:
- Our Ball Fever buddy “J-Dubb” James Walsh had himself a night scoring 17 points with 6 rebounds to lead Arapahoe to the Round 1 win.
- Good to see Isaac Essien back for Mountain Vista with the wicked 15 point, 10 assist double-double in 10-point victory over Fairview.
- Highlands Ranch was our sole squad to go on the road and get a victory surprising Monarch by 6!
- We picked Lincoln as our 5A bracket buster and Tino Chavez scored 16 as the Lancers got by Legacy.
- FRESHMAN ALERT: JoVon Nelson putting in 13 as the FNE Montbello Warriors roll Bear Creek!
- Performance of the week? Braxton Bertolette with 8 three pointers and 37 points to help Fossil Ridge roll.
- Arvada West held Castleview to 2 points in the fourth quarter and won big!
- Jack Buckmelter 23 and Daytone Jennings 18 as Denver East coasted past Hinkley.
- The Fever Crew got out to Aurora Central/Heritage on this night! We love senior guard play in the tourney and Elijah Coleman’s 17 points along with Ladarius Thomas’ 16 points (including a sweet dunk to close the game) led the Trojans to the win.
- Dan Mohrman caught Rampart’s fast start!
- Dominic Coleman continues to be the go to “stat-stuffer” for Chaparral and Stephen Priest covered them Round 1.
- Palmer advanced and Josh Watt has the photos.
- TJ Clark with the last second heroics for Liberty in a win over Westminster and Matt Matthewes was in the house!
4A Round 1:
- Vista Peak by 17 over a tough Thompson Valley team and Stephen Priest has you covered.
- Dan Morhman made it to Pueblo to catch Durango move on.
- Long ride for Glenwood Springs to Valor and the Eagles weren’t kind!!
- Dylan Mileto with 29 but it’s not enough to get Mesa Ridge past Pueblo West.
- Windsor meant business as Colton Mclean’s 21 points led four in double figures as they spanked Thomas Jefferson Round 1.
- Mitchell put up a fight but good looking sophomore Courtney Dean’s 20 point, 12 rebound double-double helped Denver South advance.
- Kion Wingo with 17 points and 7 steals for Sierra as they march on over Wheat Ridge.
- Charles Davis (22 points) and D’Evelyn are riding a hot streak and knock off Sand Creek in an upset.
- Vista Ridge has some scoring punch and take down Pueblo Central by 23!
- Colton Bachman with 15 as Longmont throttles Sky View.
5A Round 2:
- Josh Watt caught BJ Hardy and Dalven Brushier putting in work for Doherty.
- How about a 20-3 start to the game for Cherry Creek! Jack Eberhard has the action shots.
- Eaglecrest by 16 over Highlands Ranch.
- Clay Verk and ThunderRidge said “take that Ball Fever upset prediction!” and rolled past Lincoln.
- Will we ever stop using the word “balance” when it comes to Regis hoops? They were at it again and Jack Eberhard snapping the shots.
- Lechaun Duhart scored 32 but it wasn’t enough as Will Wittman and Dallas Walton both put up double-double performances on the night for Arvada West who won by 2.
- Seniors Ronnie Barfield and David Thornon with 19 points each to lead Cherokee Trail over Palmer.
- Jack Buckmelter likes it out west as he torched Grand Junction for 37 points and also chipped in 5 assists for Denver East in the win.
- It took overtime and 24 points from Landon Taliaferro for Boulder to take down Montbello!
- Big De’Ron and Jervae Robinson both with 14 as Overland looks fierce right now!
- A 15 point fourth quarter from Sam Masten helped Rock Canyon win the neighborhood battle over Arapahoe.
- A 20-4 second quarter advantage blew this one open for Legend as they surprisingly beat Fossil Ridge by 22! Wow…didn’t see that coming. Monroe Porter with 17 in the win.
- Cordell Gillingham scored 18 but it wasn’t enough for Greeley West as they traveled well but fell short to the streaking GW Patriots!
- Tyler McFarland and Devante Jones both in double figures for Dakota Ridge in impressive 4-point nod over Mountain Vista.
- Ladarius Thomas finished his career with 28 points as Aurora Central gave Chatfield a fight but lost by 7.
- We all know about No. 1 Rangeview’s scoring ability but what’s up with holding Chaparral to 26 in the lopsided win?!!
4A Sweet 16:
- Dan Mohrmann extended the Pueblo stay and caught Pueblo West getting defensive!
- Valor cruised again and Matt Matthewes caught the fun.
- Michael Scheid scored 19 and Windsor is looking good taking down Pueblo South!
- No. 1 Lewis Palmer rolled again beating Evergreen by 21!
- Mead won the north/south battle taking down our 4A Ball Fever sleeper Sierra by 10.
- “THREE”S PLEASE” – Denver South knocked down 19 from behind the arc and junior Tucker Cargile had 4 of them scoring 19 in the Rebels win over Vista Peak. Watch for the Bison next year as they have a core of youth returning!
- Vista Ridge takes down 2 seed Golden behind 31 points from Hunter Maldonado!
- D’Evelyn was on a nice late season run but then ran into Longmont who beat them by 22!
Previewing the week ahead
5A Sweet 16
Jim Baggot Region
Denver East and Eaglecrest tangled back in January and Colbey Ross straight “went off” for 38 points hitting buckets from all over the gym. If the Angels have any hope at making this visit different it’s time to get the ball out of Ross’ hand and not allow him to cross half court so freely.
Balance can be used to describe Dakota Ridge and Regis which will make this one a fun battle. Expect a low scoring affair right down to the wire!
Bill Weimar Region
Arvada West pulled out a close one in round one but allowed Duhart to score 32 of Grandview’s points. They will have MULTIPLE scorers to deal with as they face the No. 1 Rangeveiw Raiders who will have to use a “by committee” approach vs. big man Dallas Walton inside. Intriguing match here!
Nice: the Legend squad who many say haven’t lived up to the potential of a talented senior heavy crew vs. a Cherokee Trail squad who is eager to prove their tough losses this season that were oh so close has prepared them for this stage. The Cougars gym will be rocking and Legend travels well!
Ray C. Ball Region
As previously noted, Overland has just been on a tear since their surprising home loss to Grandview. Boulder has some scorers who can keep this one interesting but who’s going to stop big De’Ron inside? This will be better than expected!
We talked last week that we almost hated to see Doherty and Rock Canyon in the same region. Not surprising to our crew at all that they both advanced to see each other. Someone has to lose and this one will be wildly entertaining. These two have the stuff to beat anyone!
Chauncey Billups Region
This one lines up to be a heavy weight fight between top squads from the Continental and Centennial. Two excellent coaches in Brookhart and Ortiz who will have their squads well prepared. This will be chess, not checkers as the Grizzlies are well known but Creek has the roster to pull the upset.
Two teams that both scored in the 70s in Round 2 games and expect them to produce even more points when they tangle Wednesday. Chatfield went into GW and got an 88-83 win over the Patriots in Game 2 of the season but as we all know this a matured Patriot squad that has seemed to gel right at the perfect time.
4A Great 8
Richard Tate Region
It was a tight 52-46 win for Longmont when they faced Mead early in the season. Mead is playing confident and fresh off an upset of a two seed. They took down lefty D’Shawn Schwartz and are very familiar with the lefty they’ll see this time in Justinnian Jessup!
Mark Randall Region
Windsor took down two perennial 4A powers in Pueblo South and Thomas Jefferson but now their toughest test vs. Valor who haven’t been challenged since the late season loss to D’evelyn which has seemed to spark their fire.
Maceo Broadnax Region
Fully expect this to be a high scoring, up and down the court match as both teams averaging in the 70s thus far in the tournament in Denver South and Pueblo West. The Rebels have multiple ways to beat you but can they corral David Simental?
Guy Gibbs Region
Vista Ridge and Lewis-Palmer have seen each other twice this season: Polar Opposites! The first game neither team reached 40 points and in the second Lewis-Palmer won by 10 at a much faster pace. Jonathon Scott and Hunter Maldonado are two of our best from down south. Hard to beat a team three times in one season but that’s what the Rangers hope for!
