There’s no questioning Broomfield’s across-the-board tradition, which has been substantial for decades in Colorado’s next-to-highest classification.
So it’s never a shock when the Eagles advance as they did Saturday night with a 75-62 decision of Windsor in the Class 4A Sweet 16 contested at D’Evelyn.
The Eagles improved to 20-5 and next get Pueblo East on Friday in the Great 8 at Colorado School of Mines in Golden.
And the Eagles did it in style. It was their second victory of the season over the Northern League rival Wizards — Broomfield won 71-61 in January — and Erik Lockwood set a school record for free throws made.
“We don’t want to be satisfied,” Eagles coach Terrence Dunn said in acknowledging the program’s expectations.
Broomfield received contributions from almost everywhere, a telltale sign of its success.
“All season long, we’ve been really good about being a team offensively,” Dunn said. “We’re happy when people go for 20, but when we get three, four, five guys in double figures, we’re hard to beat.”
Such was the case Saturday as Lockwood (21 points), Aric Kaiser (18) and Matt Perse (18) were at the front of a complete effort. As a team, Broomfield was strong inside, shared the ball and defended the Wizards. The Eagles also were 30-of-37 at the free-throw line, paced by Lockwood’s 19-of-20.
“We moved the ball well and everyone was scoring,” Lockwood said.
Ultimately, the Eagles shook the younger Wizards (16-9) when they went cold late — they didn’t score their second basket of the fourth quarter until there were 28 seconds to play.
“We had some good looks,” coach Dustin Duncan said. “We couldn’t come up with enough stops.”
The Wizards were paced by Ben Schmidt’s 15 points. Curtis Neely added 14 and Aaron Schmidt scored 11.
Broomfield 23 13 19 20 — 75
Windsor 23 11 15 13 — 62
Broomfield — Halliday 1 0-0 2, Kaiser 4 8-11 18, Lockwood 1 19-20 21, Perse 9 0-0 18, Smith 2 1-2 5, Wood 2 1-2 6, Maddock 2 1-2 5, Nehf 0 0-0 0, Jensen 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 30-37 75.
Windsor — Geuke 3 1-2 7, B. Schmidt 4 4-4 15, Neely 7 0-0 14, Walker 1 3-3 5, Okamoto 0 0-0 0, A. Schmidt 3 3-6 11, Winder 0 0-0 0, Weinmeister 0 0-0 0, Graham 2 5-8 10, Martin 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 16-23 62.
3-point goals: Broomfield — Kaiser 2, Wood. Windsor — Schmidt 3, Schmidt 2, Graham.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
