Ball Fever: Previewing the 5A and 4A boys hoops Great 8 games
Sweet enough to give you a cavity! Man, there was a ton of great action in our big school 5A/4A boys hoops this past Wednesday and has set up what will surely be an epic “Great 8” in both classifications.
Let’s take a look at how it played out and preview what’s to come!
Class 5A Great 8
Denver Coliseum
Chuck Williams Region:
The two highest seeds advanced and rose to the top of this region in No. 1 Rock Canyon and No. 8 Overland. The Trailblazers used an extremely DEFENSIVE effort to stifle Regis’ offense on Wednesday night winning 63-39 in blowout fashion!
As Overland took down a Continental League foe, Rock Canyon returned the favor making a comeback on Eaglecrest and prevailing in overtime. The Jags were down late in the fourth quarter but were able to extend the game and hit two 3-pointers early in overtime to seal it. The Raptors hit a late 3 that made it a 65-64 final.
Rock Canyon and Overland will be a rematch of the December 7 bout won by the Jags 62-56. That game was pretty tight the entire way with Overland making a bit of a fun in the fourth but came up short on their home court. Overland is much better than they were on Dec. 7, playing tough Coach Fisher defense, but the Jags have been here and have the veteran Coliseum experience. It’ll be a good one!
Richard Tate Region:
Our top seeds in this region have advanced as well, No. 2 ThunderRidge and No. 7 Doherty. ThunderRidge absolutely destroyed a balanced Fruita Monument team in a blowout our Fever Crew certainly didn’t see coming. Poised senior guard Tyson Cruickshank paced the Grizzlies scoring 17 and fellow senior leader Kaison Hammonds added 13.
Doherty will come out of their heated match up with Cherry Creek battle tested.
Back in December T-Ridge and Doherty tangled in tournament play and the Grizzlies pulled away by 17. The Spartans started winning the first quarter by 4 but T-Ridge used a 21-7 second quarter advantage to never look back. Always tough to beat the same team twice in same season…we have another rematch!
Chauncey Billups Region:
Again, out top two seeds in this region, No. 3 Chaparral and No. 6 Grandview, advance to the region final. Fitting that a young man who has Chauncey as a mentor is “going OFF” in this region. Our Fever Crew had a chance to sit down the Billups Elite product Ronnie DeGray III for a Fever “chat” last night and the excitement for the tourney is shining through this “quiet” young man.
“This season has been unbelievable. All the offseason work my team and I put in is showing and we are reaching our goals one day at a time”, said DeGray who EXPLODED for 38 points in Chap’s 92-83 track meet win over rival Mountain Vista. “We are pumped to be playing in the Great 8. It is our first time, but we will be ready for Saturday. Going after the title and 5-0 in the playoffs is our goal. One game at a time, and Grandview is the next,” said the star junior who is laying a strong claim on CO Player of the year.
Bright future for this young man, and hard to argue that anyone in the state is playing as hot as “Lil Ronnie” right now. Thanks for the “chat,” Silent Assassin!
Grandview faced a battle against Rampart and it was tight all the way through until the Wolves seized control in the fourth with a 15-7 advantage that shut the door on Rampart’s upset bid. Eight Grandview players were in their balanced scoring column with junior Davon Walker leading with 10.
This will be the first match up of Wolves’ this season and the marquee match up will be between stud juniors DeGray III and Grandview’s Dayne Prim who is averaging 13 points, 7 rebounds per game. A wild card here could be the possibility of sharp shooter Joseph Dalton returning to the Chap lineup after a foot injury. Let’s go!
Maceo Brodnax Region:
This is our only 5A region where the two highest seeds did not advance to the final stage. That is because Smoky Hill played their best basketball of the season at the right time Wednesday night at the famed “ThunderDome” beating the No. 4 seed East 76-72 in a heated (on the court, sidelines, and stands) battle where Smoky led throughout. You can check some exciting game highlights here.
Kenny Foster, who had a nice break away dunk to give Smoky a key 4-point advantage late vs. East, will be called on heavily as the Buffs now face super athletic (and deep) roster of George Washington.
The Patriots used a dominating second quarter to pull away from Liberty and eventually made it look easy winning by 30. It has been argued that these are the two most talent laden squads in our state and the rematch comes on the big stage!
Round 1 was played back in December with Smoky winning by 9 at home. Foster, PG Quentin Rock, and big John Harge all scored in double figures that night and they’ll likely need that again to keep up with the pace of GW led by seniors Jon’il Fugett and D’AunTray Pierce on the inside.
Class 4A Great 8
Games hosted by highest seed
Larry Brunson Region:
The top overall seed, No. 1 Pueblo South, has advanced to see No. 9 Valor in this region, who knocked off the 8 seed Evergreen. Pueblo South “locked down” Montrose only allowing 26 total points and held them to single digits in three quarters. Hunter Schkapich led four Eagles in double figure scoring with 20 as Valor cruised as well to a 31-point win over the higher seed Evergreen.
Pueblo South feels it’s their turn to raise the Golden Ball at the Coliseum as Valor did one year ago. The Colts will lean on two-sport stud Marcell Barbee and his 18 points per game to make that happen.
Mark Randall Region:
No. 2 Lewis-Palmer and No. 10 Widefield are the two rising to the peak of this region. LP had a rematch with Palmer Ridge in order to advance, and Widefield had to pull the upset on the 7-seeded Silver Creek squad, 54-51. TJ Davis (20) and Tre Pierre (17) stepped up their scoring to help secure the road win for Widefield.
On paper these two squads looked evenly matched both scoring 67 points per game. The battle inside vs. Joel Scott and Tre Pierre (both averaging 20 points per game) will be well worth the price of admission!
Guy Gibbs Region:
This region provided a major upset as well with Continental league Ponderosa pulling off a stunning late-game win over No. 3 seed Golden.
For Pueblo West, it was their star NieYeme Smeyer-Williams who usually averages 15 points per game but exploded for more than 30 in the Cyclones impressive 2-point win.
Pueblo West has the experience of late season 4A success while Ponderosa is out to prove they belong after battling in the 4A/5A Continental league vs. some of the state’s best 5A teams.
Ron Vlasin Region:
No. 4 Falcon and No. 5 Longmont had some tough ones along the way but survived as the highest seeds in this region and will face off.
Longmont’s claim is as a hard working, “blue collar” squad who leans on their senior star Luke Johnson for a lot of scoring and he did just that putting up 27 points in the win over Windsor. Falcon has a few scorers of their own and on this night Brendan LaRose led with his own 28 in the win over D’Evelyn to reach this point.
Can Longmont stop the “3-headed” scoring of LaRose/Warren/Martinez from Falcon? Falcon has the scoring power but do they have the depth? Can’t wait!
The only regret our Fever Crew has is not being able to watch all eight 5A/4A games! We will catch all the 5A and be keeping an eye on the 4A action for next week. The Coliseum “Great 8” is one of our most fun days of the year … get out and enjoy our state’s best, folks!
