Inaugural Charger Challenge gets underway at Chatfield HS

LITTLETON — Chatfield’s boys basketball locker room erupted in celebration late Thursday night.

The Chargers not only ended a 3-game losing streak with a 75-50 victory over Westminster, but they gave Brady Stambaugh — Chatfield’s junior varsity head coach — his first victory coaching at the varsity level.

“Coach Stambaugh was my Language Arts teacher in sixth grade, then I had him in seventh and eighth. I’ve known him for quite a bit now,” Chatfield senior Shay Rumsey said. “It was huge for me, for him and a few other boys. I’ve very happy we could do it for him.”

Stambaugh has stepped into the role as varsity head coach for two weeks now after Chatfield varsity head coach Erik Buehler’s birth of his first son on Dec. 5.

“It feels really good. It felt really good to get one,” Stambaugh said of the victory after three previous losses since filling in for Buehler. “Hopefully we’ll have Erik back as soon as possible.”

The late-night victory came on the final of four games during the first day of the inaugural Charger Challenge Tournament. Chatfield’s win allowed the host school to face Castle View (7-1) in a championship semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday back at Chatfield High School.

Cherokee Trail and Arvada West will play in the other championship semifinal scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.

“It’s always important to win that first game of a tournament,” Stambaugh said. “You want to stay on that winner’s side of the bracket and play tougher competition. We know Castle View is a good team.”

The Sabercats took a 75-43 victory over Pomona in the third game of the night. Castle View blew open a close game in the first quarter with a 19-0 run to start the second quarter take a commanding 35-9 lead.

Castle View had four players — Evan McKean, Owen Clarke, Seth Harris and Vitorio Dante — all finish in double-digit points. Pomona was led by junior Josh Mondragon who poured in a game-high 18 points in the loss for the Panthers (4-4).

While Chatfield won by what looked like a comfortable 25-point margin, it got dicey in the third quarter. Westminster (3-3) cut the Chargers’ 35-21 halftime lead down to 5 points at 37-32 with 5:45 left in the third quarter.

“That was the biggest moment of the game,” Stambaugh said of how Chatfield responded to the Wolves’ run to start the second half. “We knew how important this game was. We knew if we didn’t get this win there was a chance this season could spiral in the wrong direction.”

The Chargers regained control and momentum with a 9-0 run in over a minute to pushed the lead back up to 46-32. Junior Liam McGuire nailed a 3-pointer to start the run. Sophomore Riley Suddath, along with juniors Owen Mahlik and Drew Rohlman all made shots in the key run with Chargers’ leader Rumsey on the bench.

“I love watching my teammates success,” Rumsey said about watching from the bench during the critical 9-0 run. “We just played our hardest. Shots started falling for us and the game went in our favor.”

Stambaugh added how important Rumsey was in the win. Rumsey finished with a team-high 14 points and had a key block in the second half defensively.

Ten different Chargers scored in the win. Senior Cutter Painter had 13 points, including going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Junior Colin Mote and Rohlman pitched in 11 points each.

Westminster was led by senior Armando Gomez who had a team-high 14 points.

“We defintely want to hit .500 before break,” Rumsey said. “I think we are coming out here and competing. In practice we are just getting better and better every day.”

After Friday’s consolation and championship semifinals, the tournament will conclude Saturday with games at 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and the title game at 5 p.m.