HIGHLANDS RANCH — For one of Class 4A’s highest-scoring teams, Valor Christian can play some defense too.
Just ask Pueblo West’s Garrett Miller.
Led by Max McCaffrey’s tight defense, the Eagles held the Cyclones’ leading scorer to 12 points — eight below his average — keying a 73-55 victory Saturday night that sends Valor back to the Elite Eight of the state tournament for the second consecutive year.
Only this time, instead of a rematch with defending state champion Sterling, Valor will face John F. Kennedy, which played slow-ball and upset Sterling in the Sweet 16. That leaves the Eagles (22-2) as the highest seed (No. 2) in the Jim Baggot Region.
“It would have been nice,” McCaffrey said of the possibility of again facing the Tigers, who beat Valor 49-47 in last year’s quarterfinals. “But it doesn’t matter. We’ll take each game at a time.”
McCaffrey, Valor’s lone senior starter along with four sophomores, was quite the workhorse against Miller and sixth-seeded Pueblo West (16-9), which ousted No. 3 seed Sand Creek on Friday behind 22 points by Miller. McCaffrey was instrumental along with Cody Thibault and Marcus Wilson in limiting Miller to one basket in each quarter. McCaffrey also chipped in a team-high 17 points — despite going 5-of-12 from the free-throw line.
“We wanted to limit Miller,” Eagles coach Steve Rotello said. “In the first half, we let him get in the middle too much. But once we solved that, we did a pretty good job.”
“We watched him against Sand Creek and he’s an amazing player,” the 6-3 McCaffrey said of the 6-0 Miller. “Our goal was to stop him and we heavily guarded him on ‘D.’ “
Logan Letofsky scored a game-high 22 points, 15 in the second half, for the Cyclones.
“They guarded (Miller) with just about everybody,” said Pueblo West coach Bobby Tyler, whose team faced a decided height disadvantage.
Valor, which won its sixth straight since a loss to Jefferson County League rival D’Evelyn, trailed only once Saturday, 7-5. The Eagles then sprinted to a 17-7 lead.
All five Valor starters scored in double figures, with Christian McCaffrey and Chase Foster getting 14 points apiece and Austin Sparks and Wilson adding 10 each.
Pueblo West: 12 17 11 15 — 55
Valor Christian: 21 16 21 15 — 73
Pueblo West: Mountford 2 0-0 4, Miller 4 2-3 12, C. Barry 2 2-3 6, Letofsky 10 0-0 20, B. Barry 3 0-0 6, Arrieta 1 0-0 2, Bogenschutz 1 1-1 3, Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 4-7 55.
Valor Christian: C. McCaffrey 5 4-4 14, Wilson 3 3-5 10, Foster 5 1-2 14, Sparks 4 2-4 10, M. McCaffrey 6 5-12 17, Thibault 2 2-2 6, Pleiman 1 0-0 0, Proctor 0 0-0 0, Longo 0 0-0 0, Beasley 0 0-0 0, Witt 0 0-0 0, Lisle 0 0-0 0, Waddell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 17-29 73. .
3-pt. goals: Miller 2, Lefofsky 2; Foster 3, Wilson.
