Greenwood Village – In typical Centennial League fashion, the Class 5A group with four teams ranked in the top 10 of The Denver Post/9News poll, the one that still incorporates home-and-away scheduling and the one that always goes down to the wire delivered another beauty to the 2005-06 season.
Host Cherry Creek built a double-digit halftime lead, then held off Smoky Hill 66-63 on Friday night.
The No. 9-ranked Bruins improved to 14-5 overall, 8-2 in the league. They are a game off the league pace set by Mullen, whom they will host Wednesday. No. 6 Smoky Hill, the defending league champion, dipped to 15-4, 7-3.
In sweeping their district rivals, the Bruins continued to establish themselves as one of 5A’s best teams.
“For good teams at this time of year, it’s not going to be 25-point games,” Cherry Creek coach Mike Brookhart said. “They’re a good team, we knew they would come back on us. Of course, we didn’t want them to get as close as they did.”
It was fitting it came down to Cherry Creek’s Taylor Rhode. The slender, 6-foot-5 senior was scorching through two quarters. Late in the second quarter, he outscored Smoky Hill himself. His deep 3-pointer made it 36-19 in favor of Cherry Creek as he totalled 20 points.
Rhode also came through late. Smoky Hill’s defense picked up after halftime as Rhode took only two shots, but he beat the Buffaloes’ defense on an inbounds play, was fouled and made one-of-two free throws to make it 66-63 with 10 seconds to play.
The Buffs got off an off-balance 3-pointer by Will Figures, but it missed.
“My teammates were doing a good job setting screens and the ball was just falling,” Rhode said.
Grant Parker added 20 points and eight rebounds.
Figures scored 15 of his 22 points after halftime, and Sam Huebner and Cel Perry each added 13. Kevin Daugherty scored 10 as the four sparked an 8-0 run after the break that kept the Buffs in it.
Smoky Hill 16 10 15 22 – 63
Cherry Creek 22 18 10 16 – 66
Smoky Hill – May 1 1-2 3, Daugherty 4 0-0 10, Huebner 5 2-2 13, Perry 5 1-3 13, Figures 8 4-5 22, Cassaday 1 0-0 2, Natt 0 0-0 0, Ross 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 8-12 63.
Cherry Creek – 1 0-1 3, Fishel 1 5-6 8, Rhode 8 4-6 24, Parker 6 6-8 20, Montgomery 3 3-6 9, Heimbrock 1 0-0 2, Pingree 0 0-0 0, Wilde 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 18-27 66.
3-point goals – Daughtery 2, Figures 2, Perry 2, Huebner; Rhode 4, Parker 2, Fishel, Sokoloski. Totals fouls – Smoky Hill 20, Cherry Creek 15. Fouled out – Cassady. Technicals – Cassaday; Parker.
