2A boys basketball semifinals: Sanford and Wray advance to championship game
By Jonathan Maness for CHSAANow.com
Photo: Barry Smith
LOVELAND – The Class 2A boys basketball semifinals took place Friday at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland. No. 4 Wray and No. 7 Sanford advanced to the championship game, defeating No. 3 Limon and No. 9 Evangelical Christian, respectively.
The two teams will return tomorrow to the Budweiser Events Center for the 2A boys basketball championship game, which will begin at 7 p.m.
(4) Wray 55, (9) Evangelical Christian 34
Wray led end-to-end to beat Evangelical Christian 55-34 to advance back to the Class 2A boys basketball championship game after missing out last season.
Wray beat Limon 56-50 to win the 2A title in 2021.
“I can’t say enough about this group of kids,” Wray coach Chris Rose said. “They are the reason we are here. Our goal was 8-0 in postseason and right now we are 7-0.”
Rafael Trejo led the way with 20 points for Wray, AB Ruiz chipped in 14. Jared Guest led ECHS with 12.
Wray was a team on a mission in the first half. Ruiz hit a trey to give Wray a 15-5 advantage after the first quarter.
Brock Jones and Guest scored back-to-back baskets for Evangelical to cut the deficit to six, but Wray answered with 10-1 run to push the lead to 15. WHS added baskets from Camden Riggleman and Chris Arambula to take a 33-19 advantage into the half.
WHS didn’t slow down in the second half, Joey Uyemura made a pair of baskets to push the lead to 43-27 after three.
Trejo added six points in fourth to seal the victory for Wray.
(7) Sanford 40, (3) Limon 27
Sanford is making its second consecutive trip to the Class 2A boys basketball championship game after beating Limon 40-27 for the second year in the row.
“It just says a lot about our team,” Sanford coach Brice Crowther said. “We are resilient and we knew Limon was going to make it tough, but our guys dug in and held tough.”
Cash Caldon and Justin McCarroll each had 11 points for Sanford, while Kaden Becker led Limon with nine.
Sanford was on a roll early, jumping out to an early 18-2 lead. The Mustangs kept Limon scoreless for the first four minutes of the contest as Caldon alone scored eight points in the court. Cade Bennett hit a halfcourt shot for the Badgers to cut the lead to 18-5.
Limon took the air out of the ball in the second quarter, shutting down Sanford for the first five minutes of the quarter. A basket by Becker brought Limon within seven, but the Mustangs were able to get a pair of treys from Ben Sittler and Craig Ford to push its lead to double-digits and take a 26-12 into half.
The Badgers defense was locked in the third, limiting Sanford to only one field goal in the quarter as Limon chipped into the score. Patrick Blatnick scored three points the old fashion way to cut the lead to 28-19 after three.
Treyton Marx scored a pair of baskets to cut Limon’s deficit to seven, but McCray Larsen made a late basket to seal the victory.
“We are happy and tired. If we play our game, I think we have a chance to win,” Crowther said.
