Ball Fever: Boys basketball teams competing well at tourneys

If the mid-week report brought us cross-classification and tourney action the end of week report theme may be CO teams competing well in local and out of state tournament competition! Let’s see how the end of week two played out.

The Look Back

Thursday, Dec. 6

The Fever Crew made it out to Overland hosting Columbine on Thursday night and CU commit Luke O’Brien did not disappoint scoring 23 points, 5 rebounds, and taking 3 steals!

Only problem was he fouled out with two minutes to go and Overland was steady down the stretch taking care of the ball and hitting a few free throws to seal the 63-58 win at home. Senior Alex Pena-Avila led the Trailblazers with 19 points and juniors Hezekiah Swanson along with big Ike Graham both scored in double figures as well.

In other games:

Keyshawn Maltbia starts our second part of the week with a 25 point, 11 rebound double-double for Fountain-Fort Carson but not enough as senior Nico Martin scored 18 for Pueblo Central in their 67-61 win. The Wildcats exploded for 28 fourth quarter points.
A strong 21 points from senior Kwane Marble and 16 from sophomore Boston Stanton help Denver East earn their first win out of state at the Great Western Shootout 78-68 over British Columbia Academy. Way to “rep the 303” Angels!
Poudre is 5-0 folks after another double-digit win. This time over Windsor 75-62.
Longmont is rolling early and their balance was on display with three seniors in double figure scoring led by Calvin Seamons 18. That scorer for Thomas Jefferson, Darius Hornbuckle, scored 27 of TJ’s 49 but not enough as No. 2 Longmont invades Spartan territory winning by 18. Oh my! Just caught Brady Renck’s 16 point, 11 assist double-double…that has to get in the report!
No. 1 Lewis-Palmer was led by Joel Scott with 21 points, 7 rebounds as the Rangers more than doubled Sierra 65-31!
Rock Canyon has some new names to get familiar with but the same solid hoops being taught! Jalen Ashley led in a 61-54 win over Dakota Ridge.
Another solid win for Highlands Ranch by four over Boulder. The Falcons started the first quarter 19-10 and held on late!
In Texas the Bruins had four players score in double figures led by soph Julian Hammond’s 12 but not enough to keep up with the Steele Knights who beat Creek by 15.
Our 5A No. 6 Regis Jesuit is also out of state competing and had a heart breaker one point loss to Serra of California. Daniel Carr, a senior, stepped up with 28 points and 9 rebounds in the loss.
Dennis Pleuss covers coach Jeff Dolan’s first win for Evergreen.
D’Agostino steps up for Warriors as Arap gets another early season win.
Lakewood’s strong second half spurred their win over Vista Peak.

Friday, Dec. 7

Falcon Grand Junction Central boys basketball

Denver East another squad out of state had Kwane Marble “stat-stuffin” once again with 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals! Unfortunately for the Angels that outstanding performance wasn’t nearly enough as Santa Margarita (CA) exploded for a 32-point quarter en route to 96-76 win.
In the DeLa Salle California tournament Regis earned an out-of-state win with Peyton Eggloff, Matt Wheelock and Daniel Carr all scoring in double figures led by Carr’s second 28 point game! Eight point win over St Mary’s of California.
Seniors Aaron Bokol and Thurbil Bile scored 16 and 15 points respectively but Eaglecrest suffered a 2-point loss at the CDM CA Beach Bash vs. Edison from Huntington Beach.
Again, four upperclassmen displaying balanced double digit scoring can carry a team and Castle View got just that in the 9-point Fairview Festival win over Ralston Valley with senior Michael Poux leading with 19 points.
Montbello (FNE) continues to play strong ball early sitting at 6-2 and we there was a different senior starring this night in Myron Hamilton’s 20 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, with 3 steals beating Legacy 62-56 in the T-Ridge/Chap Tip Off.
This super soph at Cherry Creek, Julian Hammond, is becoming a regular name in Ball Fever and he did it again scoring 28 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists in the Bruins win over Floresville Texas!
Senior Josh Rogers scores 16 and is helping Arvada West to a 3-1 start this season. This win was by 10 over Horizon.
A low-scoring battle between Valor and T-Ridge to see who punched their ticket to the Tip Off Classic title game and Kevin Sax led the Grizzlies with 12 points holding off Valor by 5.
Lincoln only had five players in the scoring column and that hurt in a 20-point home loss to Mullen.
GW fell to No. 10 in our poll this week but earned a road win at Golden in overtime 78-71. “Super soph” Kendale Johnson led the way with 20 points and senior Jovon Nelson put up 18 to lead the Patriots.
Chaparral was ready for a Top-10 match with visiting No. 3 Smoky Hill and won the semifinal game of the T-Ridge/Chap tip off in convincing fashion by 17 points. The rankings say upset but Chap is a veteran led squad with lots of big game experience!
Bear Creek with another early-season W.
Four players scoring in double figures is usually a good sign and it was for the Arapahoe Warriors taking down Lakewood.
Falcon comes up short in come-back attempt vs. Grand Junction Central.
If you like DE-FENSE take a look at Bear Creek allowing only 10-points in second half of win over Hinkley.

Saturday, Dec. 8

Fountain-Fort Carson scored more than 21 points in three quarters on their way to a blow out victory of Mesa Ridge 89-51.
Regis chalks up another out of state victory by 17 over Marin Catholic and the “big fella” Matt Wheelock just missed a double-double with 17 points, 9 rebounds.
No. 9 Eaglecrest secures another CO out of state win by 20 points over Crean Lutheran from Irvine CA!
FIVE players in double figures and four with at least 12 as No. 5 Rangeview continues to steam roll early this time putting up 86 total points in thrashing of Rampart.
Silver Creek got 16 votes to join our 4A poll but still sit outside of the Top-10 beating Littleton by 16 points and still looking good early.
“Mama there goes that man!” Super soph, Julian Hammond III, we’ve already discussed will be a REGULAR here on Ball Fever and in Cherry Creek’s final game in Texas he scored 30 points (30 piece for a soph!), 4 assists, and 3 steals straight “stat-stuffin”! Hammonds’ 2021 running mate and football “two sport stud” Myles Purchase added 12 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals in the Bruins last second comeback win over Central Catholic (San Antonio TX) 69-67 with this 30 FOOT “wet ball” by Hammond III

https://twitter.com/JulianHammond15/status/1071514951783723008

Smoky Hill started off fast in the 3rd place game of the Chap/T-Ridge Tip Off Classic 26-10 and never looked back winning by 16 in a game that wasn’t really that close.
UPSET ALERT! The Fever Crew felt it wouldn’t be long that Rock Canyon would join our Top-10 coming in at No. 8 this week and they were welcoming the No. 1 Grandview Wolves to their house for a low scoring slug fest on Saturday! Neither team scored more than 13 points in any quarter and this days standout was senior Jaylen Eikenberg who scored 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals in the Jags 1-point upset 37-36 win over the Wolves.
Bear Creek shows up big in fourth quarter vs. Arapahoe.

Closing out this week’s coverage was Saturday’s Top-10 match between No. 2 T-Ridge and No. 7 Chaparral in the title game of their co-hosted Tip Off Classic tournament.

Chap traveled to T-Ridge Saturday afternoon and the “swag” they brought with them was clear from the outset of this one! The Wolverines lost top CO player Ronnie DeGray III to prep school and senior weapon Joseph Dalton is out with injury but these issues have Chap playing with a “chip” on their shoulder and a “show and prove” attitude in the early season.

Smooth lefty point guard Kobe Sanders and baseball big man Bryce Matthews are proving to be a STRONG “inside/out” tandem with a cast of other Wolverines contributing to their early undefeated record.

In the 58-44 win, Sanders was cookin’ with 18 points at the half, finishing with 23 while Matthews scored 16 with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals! Look for Chap to rise in our Top-10 poll!

T-Ridge will learn from this early-season loss due to Coach Ortiz and the bright spots were Austin Holt and Nolan Marold both scoring 12 points for a Grizzlies team who’s size will be a beast to deal with late season. This one was a fun one to watch, folks!