GREELEY - The McClave boys completed the CHSAA 1A state basketball championship sweep with a 59-43 win over Flatirons Academy Saturday night.
 
Earlier the McClave girls won its championship, setting the stage for a grand return back to southeastern Colorado.
 
“This (championship) just means that our program is doing the right things,” coach Jeremy Mallard said. “We built a culture and a standard and all of the young kids have bought into it; it’s just pretty neat. Year after year we keep replacing kids with new kids and we keep finding our way back here, so that’s awesome.”
 
McClave dominated, leading the game for all but 30 seconds. The Cardinals got up to an 11-point lead at the half before pushing it to 24 following a 20-7 third quarter.
 
The big three of Tuff Kelley, Mason Barr and Myles Northrup led the way for the Cardinals, with the trio combining for 45 points, which is 76% of the total scoring.
 
Kelley complimented his 15 points nicely with 10 boards. In 28 games played, the sophomore has tallied 21 double-doubles.
 
Barr finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while Northrup led the way with 17. All three will be eligible to return to McClave next season. The continuity and experience will certainly be a big asset to the Cardinals and can help continue to build the culture that Mallard has constructed.
 
“Our practices are pretty hard and competitive, we’re a pretty deep team, so a lot of our practices have been more competitive than some of our games have,” Mallard said. “These kids just play off of each other. We get the ball inside, and they look outside … it all works together, it’s all part of a puzzle.”
 
After a sour end to the season in last year's state championship final, McClave had a chip on its shoulders through all of those intense practices.
 
Hard work paid off.
 
“(I’m most proud of) my young kids stepping up,” Mallard said. “You get into a situation like this and you never know how they’re going to react to the environment and everyone being around here. But they handled it great, and I couldn’t be any more proud of them.”

In the third place game earlier in the day, No. 4 Stratton defeated No. 3 Cheyenne Wells, 47-35.