Colorado Springs – All chewing on his mouthpiece aside, Travis Stroth comes into games hungry.
The Smoky Hill senior guard had a catch-and-shoot beat Thursday against Chatfield, helping the top-seeded Buffaloes get into a rhythm the No. 4 Chargers could never break.
“It was good that I could come off the bench and give that energy,” said Stroth, who scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting. “It seems like when I do come in and hit my shots, my team kind of gets that boost.”
Stroth and the rest of the bench were good for a 28-point boost as the Buffaloes (22-3) steadily pulled away from the Chargers for a 73-60 victory at the World Arena to advance to Saturday’s Great 8 of the Class 5A state tournament.
Smoky Hill mainstays Josh Cassaday (17 points), Scott May (13) and Sam Huebner (13) did their usual damage, driving to the basket, grabbing offensive rebounds for putbacks and draining timely 3-pointers, while the defense locked Chatfield out of its perimeter game.
“They did struggle at times to get the looks they normally like,” Buffaloes coach Ken Shaw said of the Chargers.
The Buffaloes had an early eight-point advantage trimmed to one but were back up by 14 with 2:29 left before halftime on Ryan Perry’s 3-pointer. Smoky Hill took its biggest lead with 2:40 left in the third quarter when Huebner’s jumper put the 2006 semifinalists up 54-34.
Smoky Hill will play second-seeded East in the R.W. Truscott Region final Saturday at 7:45 p.m. at the Denver Coliseum.
The Chargers (16-6) got Ryan Murphy’s perimeter game started early, but teammate Brian Kenshalo was held without a shot in the first quarter and didn’t connect on his first basket until the start of the fourth.
Murphy paced the Jefferson County League co-champions with 17 points and small forward Ryan Beigie added 15.
“We’ve never really been a physical team. We’ve kind of been known for that,” Beigie said. “We needed some people to step up and be more physical. They beat us on the boards, and that’s what killed us.”
Chatfield 18 10 13 19 – 60
Smoky Hill 24 14 19 16 – 73
Chatfield – Beigie 6 3-4 15, Bishop 2 0-1 5, Murphy 5 3-4 17, Kenshalo 3 0-0 8, Collins 1 2-2 4, Gillette 1 0-0 2, Detwiler 0 0-0 0, Fritze 1 0-0 3, Leroue 2 2-3 6, Vermeer 0 0-0 0, Haidaris 0 0-0 0, Kurtenbach 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 10-14 60.
Smoky Hill – Agyei 0 0-0 0, May 3 5-7 13, Ross 1 0-0 2, Cassaday 8 0-0 17, Huebner 4 4-5 13, Stroth 6 0-1 12, Whittington 3 3-3 9, Perry 2 2-4 7, Carter 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 14-20 73.
3-point goals – Murphy 4, Kenshalo 2, Bishop, Fritze; May 2, Cassaday, Huebner, Perry. Total fouls – Chatfield 20, Smoky Hill 16. Fouled out – Bishop. Technicals – None.
