Greenwood Village – Away from home and out of their element in terms of style, the Smoky Hill Buffaloes displayed plenty of starch Friday before dropping the iron on Cherry Creek.
The Buffaloes never got their transition game going and were forced to fight the Bruins’ style – slow and physical.
No problem.
Scott May scored eight of his team-best 16 points in the pivotal third quarter as the fourth-ranked Buffaloes built a 13-point lead and held on for a 56-50 victory to forge a two-way tie atop the Class 5A Centennial League.
“I was proud of our guys, especially in the second half for getting some things done against very physical defense, loosely-officiated game,” Buffaloes coach Ken Shaw said. “We’re going to have to get used to playing some games like that and still be effective down the stretch. You know, doing the blue-collar things.”
The Buffaloes (13-2, 5-1 in league) won their sixth straight while snapping the No. 5 Bruins’ eight-game winning streak and preventing them from taking a two-game lead in the Centennial League.
Smoky Hill led 22-19 at halftime and opened the third quarter on an 11-1 run as Cherry Creek missed its first eight shots and didn’t make a basket until 3:49 remaining in the quarter.
May’s layup made it 28-20 and Sam Huebner’s putback of May’s miss made it 30-20. Smoky Hill took its big lead when Steve Agyei’s layup put the visitors up 33-20 with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter.
Josh Cassaday hit two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 points.
“Whenever we have a lead we come out and try to extend it,” May said. “At the end of the game we had that cushion.”
And the Buffaloes would need it.
The Bruins (9-4, 5-1) found their range in the final minutes, connecting on four 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 52-47 with 1:27 remaining.
Smoky Hill missed enough free throws to give the Bruins life, but the Bruins, who pulled within four with 37 seconds left, were equally wasteful from the charity stripe and threw the ball away with 16.6 seconds left.
Taylor Montgomery led the Bruins with 18 points and eight rebounds. Trey Eckloff had nine points.
Smoky Hill 12 10 15 19 – 56
Cherry Creek 7 12 11 20 – 50
Smoky Hill – Whittington 2 4-7 8, May 6 3-4 16, Ross 1 0-0 2, Cassaday 4 0-2 10, Huebner 2 2-5 6, Stroth 1 2-4 4, Perry 1 2-2 4, Agyei 1 0-0 2, Carter 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 13-24 56.
Cherry Creek – Ahlbrandt 0 0-0 0, Heimbrock 2 0-0 6, Link 3 1-5 7, Montgomery 6 4-6 18, Eckloff 4 1-2 9, Keeth 3 0-0 7, Traina 1 0-0 3, Giles 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-13 50.
3-point goals – Cassaday 2, May; Heimbrock 2, Montgomery 2, Keeth, Traina. Total fouls – Smoky Hill 16, Cherry Creek 20. Fouled out – None. Technicals – None.
