Ball Fever: Colorado boys hoops squads hit the road to Las Vegas

Mountain Vista Doherty boys basketball fans

December HS hoops should be about traditional non-league challenges and taking on new foes to inspire and prepare your team for the long season ahead.

This week was the definition of exciting non-league action — and how about ELEVEN Colorado teams heading to Las Vegas and California to face top national competition. Ten of those teams traveled to the increasingly popular “Tarkanian Classic” in Las Vegas and full results can be seen here

Great to see our big school 5A/4A teams taking on the challenge in and out of state!

In this week’s No. BallFeverChat we caught up with top 2017 Colorado guards, the “leader” Matt Johnson Jr. (Rangeview) and “sharp shooting” Kolton Peterson (Lakewood).

Catch our mid-week roundup here.

A Look Back

Thursday, Dec. 15

Seniors stepping up for Boulder as Peter Chopra scored 14 along with Luke Wilson’s 12 in Boulder’s road win at Aurora Central.
Pueblo County’s Jake Wilson scored 22 and his squad held Air Academy to 9 fourth quarter points to complete the comeback win.
Tye Thompson put in 22 and sophomore Dee Dennis 10 in a “private” battle between Colorado Academy and Mullen but it wasn’t enough for CA as Mullen won the battle of the Mustangs by 20!
Tournament Action: Pomona loses by 12 to Wyoming South.
Senior Michael Ward scores 24 in Mead’s blowout of Grand Junction Central.
Stud point guard Brevin Brimble has No. 9 Doherty playing well and they got defensive vs. Mountain Vista!
Niyeme Smyer-Williams was a critical part of No. 1 Pueblo West’s run to the title last season and he dropped 20 along with David Simental’s 17 in West’s route of Palmer.
Matt Matthewes was in the house as Highlands Ranch got a needed win over Broomfield.
Lewis-Palmer is now No. 10 in 4A, and A Batitstelli led the Rangers balanced 54-47 win over Pueblo South with 14 points.
Monarch got their second win of the season 60-48 over Fountain-Fort Carson in tourney play.
Goodness! Our Fever crew has talked about the way Chatfield can get up and down the court but 94-67 over Fossil Ridge is eye catching for the new 5A No. 10 squad.
We heard a lot of preseason chatter about this Rampart squad but saw nothing early showing dominance … until now! Senior C Roberson led four players in double figure scoring in the 93-59 blowout of Denver South.
Adam Thistlewood scored 24 for No. 3 Golden in Rocky Mountain Classic tourney win over Cheyenne Wyoming East.

Friday, Dec. 16

Top-10 Alert!! Highly anticipated game as No. 9 Sierra and No. 6 Sand Creek got it on down south and Dan Mohrmann was all over the star power.
Cherry Creek has been playing strong ball early and earned a tight 66-64 win over Rangeview on Friday. Senior Jalen Meeks led the Bruins with 24 points in the win. Speaking of “leadership” our Fever Crew got to spend spring/summer 2016 with Rangeview’s senior leader Matt Johnson Jr. (27 points vs. C Creek) in Chicago, Las Vegas and major tourney venues. We had no doubt that Matt’s spring/summer would roll right into high school ball with numerous RMAC schools recruiting him as well as Ivy League Cornell showing interest due to Johnson’s 4.3 GPA. Johnson notes that, “We have a very young team and my role as a leader has changed a lot this year. We are still in the learning process and I have to be more of teacher/leader for the squad.” Matt Jr. realizes the season is a process stating, “We’ve had some tough losses to good teams but continue to stay positive and learn from our mistakes. We will come back stronger every game!” Johnson’s quiet confidence has a way of simply making you a believer in what he says! The Raiders have an impressive young man leading the way.
Winning in Regis’ house is no easy feat but that’s exactly what Kolton Peterson and the Lakewood Tigers pulled off Friday night!
In this week’s “Ball Fever Chat,” Peterson was quick to point out Lakewood’s two losses came at the buzzer to tough teams stating, “We lost to CT, who was No. 4 at the time, on a FT tip-in … and lost to No. 4 Thunderridge in OT at the buzzer.” Kolton feels these losses can be a blessing in disguise saying, “This keeps us humble, and makes us want to play even harder.” Peterson notes that this squad is full of players who have played together for years and the chemistry is starting to pay off. Peterson feels the 5-2 start and tough schedule “proves we can play with anyone” and continually credited his teammates and coaches for his personal success averaging 18 points per game. Kolton’s team/coaches believe in Peterson, which leads to his confidence on the floor. Opposing coaches will always plan to play Peterson “tight” and as teams start to focus their defense on him he sees teammates stepping up big, making opponents pay! Kolton has committed early to Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction after choosing the Mavericks over Fort Lewis and Asuza Pacific. The RMAC has a good one coming their way!
Strong senior Aaris Bonds 16 points, 6 rebounds led FNE (Montbello) Warriors to lopsided win over Westminster.
Sam Masten was at it again scoring 28 in No. 2 Rock Canyon’s eleven point win over Dakota Ridge.

A number of squads were competing in the Tarkanian Classic on Friday:

Valor loses its first game in Las Vegas to Roosevelt out of California by 11. The Eagles are competing in the top level of Tarkanian tourney comp.
Chaparral cruised to easy win over Agassi Prep in their first tourney game in Vegas.
No. 1 George Washington beats Redondo, Calif., 68-61!
Colbey Ross’ 19 points helped Eaglecrest coast to easy win over Durango, Nev.
Gage Prim and Lechaun Duhart both in double figures as Grandview blows out Spring Valley in their bracket.
Iseri Palacio with 19 in Fort Collins 20 point win over Putnam, Ore.
Overland loses a close one by 3 to American Fork, Utah.
No. 4 Thunderridge wasn’t messing around beating Bountiful Utah by 29!
Denver East ran into one of the most talented squads in the nation, Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, and were throttled 76-40.

Saturday, Dec. 17

The frigid winter conditions hampered some of our local action but didn’t stop No. 2 Valor from handling Cathedral Catholic by 23 on the road.
Mead finished off the Pueblo East “Coaches Classic” with 23 point win over Pueblo County.
ThunderRidge got another Vegas win over Faith Lutheran by 12!
Good to see Denver East bounce back after their ugly loss to Gorman and win 72-67 over Florida’s Windemere Prep in Vegas.
Not fair as Grandview rolls 62-26 over Layton Christian Academy in tourney play.
Liberty shut down a strong Vista Ridge by a surprising 24 points with senior Matthew Kirk scoring 20.
Those young Buffaloes did it again! Smoky Hill makes a comeback on Rangeview to end their week with a win.
Our coverage ends with No. 1 George Washington handling one of Utah’s top squads Timpview 92-74. The Fugget brothers were at it again: Jon’il scoring 27 and Calvin 18. Explosive Jervae Green poured in 26 points as well!

Last Week Thoughts

Absolutely love the early competition and aggressive schedules our big school top squads are taking. Hearing a lot of chatter about the soon to be released RPI standings leading to teams “loading up” strong opponents in December non-league play. Hey, if RPI brings us this type of scheduling, that’s a good thing!

Pueblo West and Valor continue to look like the cream of the crop in 4A but D’Shawn Schwartz of Sand Creek and Sierra’s CJ Jennings battle showed their respective squads will be hard to take down.

George Washington continues to roll in and out of state! The Fugget brothers, bit Tray Pierce “rim protecting” on the inside, and dynamic Jervay Green on the win is vicious combo.

Feels weird to say this, but Denver East’s 30-point plus loss to beast Bishop Gorman almost makes them a must see when they return to Colorado. They were quickly rising and many want to know did they run into an all-star giant in Gorman or were we giving the Angels too much credit?

Eaglecrest, Rock Canyon, and ThunderRidge almost quietly did their work this week but round out our state’s top 5 of teams not far behind the No. 1 Patriots!

A Look Ahead

Pueblo West Valor Christian boys basketball

Monday, Dec. 19

Denver East early vs. Bingham, Utah in tourney play.
ThunderRidge vs. Las Vegas.
Unbeaten Pine Creek meets Legend.
Grandview is 7-0 folks and continues tourney play!
Valor in Vegas vs. Clark, Nevada.
Smoky Hill took down Utah’s No. 1 squad Lone Peak and now our No. 1 GW gets their shot in Vegas!

Tuesday, Dec. 20