Quarterfinal results from the Colorado state high school basketball tournament:
CLASS 3A
At Moby Arena, Fort Collins
Faith Christian 70, Eaton 34
The staple of what the top-seeded Faith Christian Eagles do is on the defensive end. When they make 14 of the 18 shots they take in a half (77.8 percent), the Eagles become nearly unstoppable.
Faith (24-1), the two-time defending champions, turned a close game early into a blowout against Eaton and rolled into the semifinals against Metropolitan League rival Kent Denver with a 70-34 blowout.
Eleven different Eagles scored, led by Joel Hegartys 16 points, Hayden Loudenslagers 14 and Deron Rindels 12.
Eaton (14-12) shot just 26 percent from the field and was led by Ryan Reihers 10 points.
Kent Denver 64, Pagosa Springs 49
Kent Denver doesnt have that one guy that will simply wow you, but the Sun Devils dont make mistakes and simply play good fundamental basketball.
It was the recipe for success along with a little trickery that propelled Todd Schayes’ team into the semifinals after a 64-49 victory over Pagosa Springs.
The Sun Devils (21-4) caught the Pirates napping on an inbounds to start the fourth quarter, lining up three players in what Pagosa thought was its backcourt and leaving the fourth under its own basket for the easy layup. It typified the night for the Pirates.
Kent junior Jared Smith paced the Sun Devils with 24 points and Matt Brittan added 16.
Pagosa Springs (20-4) 11 from Jordan Caler and 10 from Taylor Shaffer.
Buena Vista 59, Peak to Peak 48
Buena Vista senior Josh Morgan may be the best player in the state that you’ve never heard of.
The Demons’ sharp-shooter made the Moby Arena floor his personal playground in the early moments of their Great 8 game against Peak to Peak and helped Buena Vista, scoring 15 of his game-high 27 and helping No. 6-seeded Buena Vista to a 59-48 victory.
Tim Allen added 12 points and Nolan Baker had eight for the Demons (21-5).
Peak to Peak (16-9), seeded No. 14, rallied from an 11 point halftime deficit to 46-42 early in the fourth, but it was too much Morgan down the stretch. Eric Goedde (14 points), Kyle Oblinger (13) and Jesse Hoefling (10) balanced the Pumas attack.
Aspen 50, Manitou Springs 44
Aspen didn’t play their best game on Thursday against Manitou Springs, but they are good enough and know its going to take a flawless game from the opposition to beat them.
The Skiers (26-0), seeded No. 2, advanced to the Final Four with a 50-44 victory over the pesky Mustangs.
Aspen senior Andrew Papanfus led the Skiers with 23 points.
Tenth-seeded Manitou Springs (19-6) was led off the bench by Stevie Davis 11 points. Kyle Maring finished with 10.
— Jon E. Yunt, The Denver Post
CLASS 2A
At CSU-Pueblo
Sanford 53, Lutheran Parker 34
Sanford is no stranger to state success, winning five state titles in school history, the last coming in 2003.
The Indians held a slim 9-5 edge after the first quarter and then just zipped past Lutheran-Parker.
Limon 43, Sargent 40
The Limon High School boys basketball team won Thursday night, thanks to some late heroics by brothers Jason and Matt Brown.
The duo led the Badgers to a 43-40 win over a pesky Sargent squad in a Class 2A opening-round game at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.
Limon ran its record to 22-3 and advances to play in the semis at 8:30 p.m. today. Limon tangles with top-seeded Ignacio. Sargent (20-3) drops into the consolation bracket.
Give Sargent credit, it fought to the end. Trailing 42-31 with less than three minutes to play, the Farmers mounted a frantic comeback.
Morgan Biel made a trey and Brandon Paulson stole the ball and made a layup to get Sargent within 42-36 with 1:38 remaining.
The Farmers weren’t done either.
Biel made a jumper in the lane and Luis Palacios drained two free throws to get Sargent within 42-40 with 47.8 seconds left.
Fouled Brown 23.7 seconds remaining he made one free throw.
Sargent had one last chance to tie, passed the ball around Biel fired a 3-pointer from the left corner, but it was blocked by Jason Brown with less than a second left, securing then Badgers win.
Ignacio 64, Wiggins 45
This was just the start Igancio boys coach Chris Valdez was looking for at state.
The Bobcats set the tone early and sped away for a 64-45 win over Wiggins Thursday morning in a Class 2A quarterfinal game at Massari Arena on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus.
The obvious problem Wiggins had was matching up with Ignacio’s size, speed and athletic ability.
Ignacio, the top seed ran its record to 20-2. Wiggins dropped to 14-11.
Oakley Hayes had 16 points to pace Igancio. Junior Leon had 18 points in Wiggins’ loss.
Holyoke 56, Hayden 36
Evan Swanson scored 17 points, leading Holyoke to a 50-36 victory over Hayden Thursday in a quartfinal game at Colorado State Pueblo’s Massari Arena.
Holyoke, a runner-up last year, went on a 13-0 run to end the game. Holyoke (23-2) adavances to a semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. Friday against the winner between Lutheran Parker and Sanford, late Thursday night.
Kyle Carper made a key inside bucket with 4:28 left, putting Holyoke up 39-36. Brian DeBoer made a backdoor layup with 2:46 remaining, putting Holyoke ahead 41-36. After a missed shot by Hayden, Logan Krueger made a layup to push the lead to 43-36.
— Tracy Renck, Special to The Denver Post
CLASS 1A
At Colorado State Fair Events Center in Pueblo
Caliche 61, Stratton 54
Trailing 34-25 at the half, Stratton used an 11-0 run to get within a point of the second-seeded Buffaloes.
But Caliche slowly pulled away for the win to advance to the semifinals.
The Buffaloes were led in points by Corey Stumpf with 17 points.
Jesse McConnell scored a game-high 23 points to pace the Eagles.
The Buffaloes will play No. 6-seeded Ridgway while the Eagles will play their consolation game against Hi Plains.
Otis 46, Eads 33
A game of runs was capped by a big one for Otis as they showed why they’re the No. 1-seed of the tournament in its convincing win over the Eads Eagles 46-33.
The Bulldogs were up 12-0 before the Eagles before freshman Kyle Crow got his team on the board. The Eagles followed that bucket with five more points to close out the quarter on a 7-0 run, including a three-point make by Crow.
Otis came out of the break, up 19-18, with the same intensity they showed in the early minutes of the first quarter. They quickly got their offense rolling and scored 19 unanswered points in the quarter. Eads’ only bucket came at the buzzer.
The bucket wasn’t a sign of things to come for the Eagles, though, as they didn’t score again until over four minutes into the fourth.
Ridgway 44, Hi-Plains 25
The Ridgway High School’s smothering full-court press led to several quick back-to-back baskets as they ran away in the second half to upset Hi-Plains High School 44-25 in the opening game of the Class 1A boys’ state basketball tournament at the Colorado State Fair Events Center in Pueblo.
The No. 3-seeded Patriots were held to just 10 points in the second half, three of which came in the final minute.
Junior Josh Crozier led the way for the No. 6-seeded Ridgway Demons with 16 points. Senior Jake Coulter added 13.
The Patriots were led in scoring by junior Sam Rueb, who had nine.
With the win, the Demons (18-7) advance to face the winner of the Caliche-Stratton game that takes place at 8:30 p.m. Caliche (22-2) is the No. 2-seed in the tournament. Stratton is seeded No. 7 and is 13-11 this season. The Patriots (18-6) will play the loser of the game.
Ouray 35, Creede 22
The Ouray Trojans were able to pull away from the Creede Miners thanks to an 11-0 run in the third quarter. Creede never got back in the game, as the Trojans advanced to the semifinals 35-22 in Class 1A boys state basketball tournament.
With six minutes to play in the third quarter, Creede’s Cameron Nelson hit a free throw to tie the game at 16. The Trojans then took over the game scoring on their last five possessions while forcing arrant shots and turnovers on the other end.
The Trojans didn’t have a standout scorer, but senior Chris Blansett led the way with 10 points.
Tyler Stroh led the way for Creede with nine points.
Ouray will face the winner of the 5:30 matchup between top-seeded Otis and Eads.
— Brandon Hopper, Special to The Post
