The quarterfinals of the Colorado high school basketball state tournaments for Classes 4A take place Wednesday at Denver Coliseum. Our staff will be there providing live coverage. Refresh this page for the latest updates and results.
Tournament info: Tournament brackets and results | Great 8 scouting report | A Golden Age of girls basketball
Updates
Class 4A boys final: No. 1 Kent Denver 79, No. 25 The Academy 69: Credit The Academy.
The Wildcats put real pressure on top-seeded Kent Denver in the fourth quarter, twice pulling as close as five in an effort to secure the program’s first trip to the Final Four.
In the end, however, Elvis Lloyd and the Sun Devils (23-3) proved to be too much.
The senior forward scored a game-high 27 points, including six straight to put the game away in final two minutes, and added six rebounds, five assists and three steals to lead Kent Denver to its second consecutive Class 4A Final Four trip. Junior Caleb Fay chipped in a double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for Kent Denver, which will take on No. 4 Prospect Ridge Academy (20-6) on Friday in the Coliseum.
CJ Hernandez poured in 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and snatched 12 boards for The Academy (14-12), which trimmed the Kent Denver lead to 68-63 with 2:40 to go on Trey Boychuk’s elbow jumper. But Fay found Sam Glynn in the corner for a 3 on the other end, then Lloyd scored three consecutive buckets to put the game away for good.
Boychuk scored 18 points, while Dom Konarski added 15 points and six rebounds for The Academy. — Matt Schubert
9:42 p.m.: Back-to-back 3s pull The Academy within five, as close as they’ve been since the first half, but Kent Denver answers with a putback from Caleb Fay and a pair of free throws from Elvis Lloyd. CJ Hernandez then answers with a floater in the lane, and the score is 68-61 with 3:31 to go. — Matt Schubert
9:27 p.m.: Kent Denver continues to come at The Academy in waves, but the top-seeded Sun Devils can’t shake the Wildcats. The lead has grown as big as 14, but Kent Denver will go into the fourth leading 60-49. Eight more minutes to decide the last Final Four team.
9:18 p.m.: The pace has definitely ramped up here in the third quarter, with both teams landing haymakers. After Kent Denver hits back-to-back 3s, The Academy responds with an and-one to shave the lead back down to 10. The Sun Devils’ lead is now 56-43 with 3:11 left in the third quarter. — Matt Schubert
9:05 p.m.: The Academy hung with top-seeded Kent Denver all the way until the final minute of the second quarter, with a five-point burst punctuated by Caleb Fay’s first 3-pointer giving the Sun Devils a 36-27 lead going into halftime.
The biggest reason the Sun Devils hold a nine-point edge? Second-chance points. The Sun Devils hold an 11-7 edge with eight offensive boards. Senior forward Elvis Lloyd has two of those rebounds and a team-high 10 points. Fay and Gil Schayes have seven points apiece.
The Academy has done an admirable job of breaking the Kent Denver press, but has missed too many bunnies. CJ Hernandez has 10 points and Aydon Austin already has five assists. — Matt Schubert
8:46 p.m.: CJ Hernandez drains his second 3-pointer to close out the first quarter. The Academy is handling the Kent Denver full-court press relatively well. The Sun Devils lead 20-17, but this is getting fun. — Matt Schubert
8:40 p.m.: The track meet, er, basketball game has begun. And just as expected, the Sun Devils are pushing the pace at every opportunity. The lead is 12-6 four minutes in. — Matt Schubert
Class 4A girls final: No. 6 Delta 37, No. 19 Colorado Academy 24
There were hints throughout the game that the Panthers would eventually put together a run and pull away from Colorado Academy. The Panthers finally did in the fourth quarter and earned their first trip to the Final Four.
Behind senior guard Taylor Somers’ 21-point, 12-rebound, five-steal performance, the girls from the Western Slope outscored CA 11-0 in the final eight minutes to advance to the 4A semifinals. Delta (18-6) will play No. 2 Timnath (23-3) on Friday at the Coliseum.
Colorado Academy (13-13) hung around for most of the game but poor shooting doomed its chances. The Mustangs put up 49 shots but made only nine — an 18.4 shooting percentage. CA was led by senior Anna Johnson, who scored 11 points and made three of the Mustangs’ five 3-pointers.
The Panthers won their 15th consecutive game. Senior guard Breezy Huff set the tone in the second half, frequently penetrating the lane and dishing out to her teammates. Delta would have had an easier time dispatching Colorado Academy had Delta sank a few 3-pointers. The Panthers shot 1 of 14 from behind the arc. — Patrick Saunders
7:57 p.m.: This see-saw game could go down to the wire. The Mustangs cling to a 26-24 lead entering the final quarter. Neither team is shooting well, but Delta’s Taylor Somers is 7 for 12 and leads all scorers with 15 points. — Patrick Saunders
7:28 p.m.: Delta used a scrappy defense, leading to some fastbreak buckets to go on a 8-2 run and take an 18-15 lead into intermission.
The Panthers shot just 9 of 28 and were 0 for 7 on 3-pointers, but CA was just 6 for 31 (3 for 16 on 3-pointers).
Senior Taylor Somers leads Delta with 10 points and seven rebounds. Senior Anna Johnson leads CA with six points. — Patrick Saunders
7:15 p.m.: Delta and CA are shooting for the final spot in the 4A Final 4. Early in the second quarter, CA leads 13-6 after Anna Johnson swished a 3-point from NBA range.
Delta, winners of 14 straight to roll to the 4A Western Slope League title, is 0 for 6 from 3-point land early in the game.
Class 4A boys final: No. 10 Colorado Academy 63, No. 15 University 37
Colorado Academy signaled its intent on the very first possession Wednesday night in Denver Coliseum, feeding James Claypool on the left block.
Claypool bounced off multiple University defenders before ultimately failing to convert. But the burly senior center was just getting started.
The 6-foot-8 Claypool punished University to the tune of 25 points and 12 rebounds on 11-of-22 shooting. Fellow senior Mikel Miller frustrated the Bulldogs (18-8) with his long 6-foot-8 frame on the other end, blocking six shots while accumulating his own double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) to help push the Mustangs (17-9) into the Final Four for the second year in a row.
University struggled to get out of the blocks from the jump, missing its first nine 3-point attempts while falling behind 21-14 going into the halftime break. And after the Bulldogs finally sank their first 3 of the game 45 seconds into the third quarter, Colorado Academy responded with a 16-3 highlighted by five straight points from senior Clyde Love (15 points) that essentially put the game away.
University finished 5 of 24 from outside, with John Elbe its lone double-digit scorer with 14 points.
6:22 p.m.: Colorado Academy is firmly in control going into the fourth quarter, leading 43-27. University briefly broke its cold spell from outside, making a pair of 3s in the third, but the Bulldogs are still at 30.6% shooting for the game. The Mustangs have battered University inside with burly senior center James Claypool (17 points, 10 rebounds), and the Bulldogs have no answer. — Matt Schubert
6:13 p.m.: University makes its first 3-pointer of the night 45 seconds into the second half only for Colorado Academy to respond with an 16-3 run. Clyde Love scored five straight at one point, including a transition 3-pointer after a University turnover that forced a Bulldogs timeout. After Mikel Miller’s fast-break bucket, the Mustangs lead 36-20 midway through the third quarter. Feels like this might be the knockout blow. — Matt Schubert
5:59 p.m.: Clyde Love sweeps through the lane for a bucket right before the buzzer and Colorado Academy’s lead is as big as it’s been all game, 21-14, going into halftime.
The big difference so far, other than James Claypool’s work on the block, has been University’s inability to hit from outside. The Bulldogs are 0 for 9 from 3-point range and 7 for 22 (31.8%) overall. If they don’t turn that around soon, this thing might be over before the fourth quarter. — Matt Schubert
5:46 p.m.: University and Colorado Academy are trading shots, but the Mustangs are holding a steady lead thanks to the post work of James Claypool (10 points), whose and-one has CA up 17-14 midway through the second quarter. — Matt Schubert
Class 4A girls final: No. 1 University 65, No. 9 D’Evelyn 23
Fueled by redemption and a chance to make history, the Bulldogs overwhelmed D’Evelyn in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. This game was a blowout from start to finish with the Jaguars caught in a crossfire hurricane.
“They knocked us off the last two years and we needed a little bit of revenge against them. We definitely got it,” said University senior center Addison Harding, who’s headed to Western Colorado University.
Harding, unstoppable in the paint, scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. She shot 7 of 9 from the floor. Senior guard Janay Kravig led all scorers with 17 points, draining five of her six 3-pointers.
The University girls (26-0) have never won a state but are now two victories away. They’ll play Holy Family (17-8), last year’s state runner-up, in Friday’s semifinals. The Bulldogs beat Holy Family 53-38 on Feb. 24.
University has outscored its opponents 1,589-739 this season. Wednesday, they led 9-0 and 17-3, and it was clear early on that the game was a mismatch. The Bulldogs shot 54% vs. 12.9% by D’Evelyn.
The rebuilding Jaguars, who last year graduated a talented senior class after back-to-back appearances in the Final Four, finished the season 22-4. Mattie Esquibel and Ellie McMann led the Jaguars with six points. — Patrick Saunders
4:57 p.m.: The top-ranked University girls have never won a state title but they are one quarter and two games away from changing that. After three quarters, they lead D’Evelyn 53-20. — Patrick Saunders
4:33 p.m.: This is a Category 5 hurricane of a blowout. Talented University leads 36-12 at the half. Senior center Addison Harding is dominating from the paint, leading all scorers with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Senior forward/guard Janay Kravig has nine points.
D’Evelyn, which eliminated University in each of the last two seasons, is shooting just 3 of 10 from 3-point land.
The Bulldogs are well on their way to advancing to the 4A semifinals where they would meet Holy Family, a team they beat 53-38 earlier this season. — Patrick Saunders
4:17 p.m.: They’re playing P!nk’s “Get This Party Started” at the end of the first quarter. Top-ranked University can relate. Not so much D’Evelyn. Behind Janay Kravig’s six points, University leads 20-6. The Jaguars shot just 2 of 9 from the floor, including 2 of 7 from long range. — Patrick Saunders
4:05 p.m.: We’re just underway at the Coliseum and top-ranked University has an early 2-0 lead. As so often happens at this venue in the early rounds, the girls are having trouble shooting. — Patrick Saunders
Class 4A boys final: No. 6 Coal Ridge 44, No. 19 Timnath 39
There will be no Cubs double-dip in Friday’s Final 4.
After the Timnath girls advanced to their first Final 4 earlier in the day, Coal Ridge ended the Timnath boys’ season by beating the Cubs in the Class 4A Great 8 on Wednesday at the Denver Coliseum.
The Titans lost back-to-back games to Aspen and Palisade late in the regular season, but have found their stride in the playoffs. Senior Ben Simons and junior Alex Cornejo starred for Coal Ridge, which now takes on the winner of No. 10 Colorado Academy/No. 15 University.
Timnath was never able to settle in offensively until it was too late, while Coal Ridge’s defensive pressure and rebounding also played a role in that. The Cubs rallied in the final quarter from a 13-point deficit but it was too little, too late. Coal Ridge improved to 20-6, and Timnath finished 18-8.
— Kyle Newman
2:31 p.m.: After closing the first half on an 11-2 run to take control of the game and an 8-point lead into halftime, Coal Ridge can smell the Final 4. The Titans lead 34-21 entering the fourth quarter. — Kyle Newman
1:56 p.m.: Both teams are getting owned by the Denver Coliseum’s notoriously tough shooting optics early in this game. Coal Ridge leads 8-7 after one quarter. Neither program has ever won a state title. One of these teams is going to need to start finding the bucket to take a step closer to getting there. — Kyle Newman
Class 4A girls final: No. 2 Timnath 60, No. 7 Pagosa Springs 38
Timnath blew the doors off Pagosa Springs on Wednesday in the Class 4A Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum.
The Cubs led the whole way, starting with a 17-4 advantage after one quarter. Their lead was as many as 33 at one point as Pagosa Springs never found a rhythm offensively, and Timnath had three scorers in double-digits led by Gretchen Deines’ 15 points.
Timnath advances to the program’s first Final 4, and seeks the school’s first-ever non-running team title. The school, which originally existed from 1921 to 1960, re-opened three years ago. This season, the Cubs set a program record for wins and notched their first playoff victories despite having no seniors and a bumpy coaching situation heading into the season.
After last season’s coach Alan Gibson left the program, Timnath’s hire to replace him left the program in early November, resulting in Kyle Crawford getting the job at the last minute.
“I was an emergency hire, so all the credit goes to our kids for knowing they had a third coach in seven months, and they were going to stay together, and work hard together,” Crawford said. “I’ve only known our kids for 121 days, so it hasn’t been very long. … The girls have done a lot of growing up between a first-round playoff loss last year and today.”
The Cubs improved to 23-3, while the Pirates finished 18-8. Timnath’s defensive intensity fueled the rout.
“The way we guard can give teams problems, and it can help us settle into basketball games,” Crawford said. “It’s two straight games where we’ve come out with a lot of intensity defensively, and that allowed us to set the tone.”
— Kyle Newman
1:07 p.m.: End of the third, just waiting for the fat lady to sing: Timnath is up 50-20, cruising towards an easy wire-to-wire win. — Kyle Newman
12:44 p.m.: Timnath is in total control, leading 34-13 over the Pirates at halftime. Cubs junior Tiana Guzman leads all scorers with 7 points. — Kyle Newman
12:21 p.m.: The Cubs are off to a hot start, opening up a 15-4 lead that prompts a Pagosa Springs timeout. — Kyle Newman
Class 4A boys final: No. 4 Prospect Ridge Academy 87, No. 5 Fort Lupton 64
11:49 a.m.: Prospect Ridge Academy cruises into its first Final 4 with a thumping of Fort Lupton. The Miners never trailed and were led by 26 points from Jackson Brandt and 22 from Josiah Bote. PRA improves to 20-6, while Fort Lupton finishes 21-5. The Miners avenged an 83-82 defeat to the Blue Devils on Jan. 14 in Broomfield. — Kyle Newman
11:28 a.m.: The Miners are running away with this one. PRA started pressing in the third quarter, and Fort Lupton’s press kept leading to easy Miners buckets. The Blue Devils are playing out of control and turning the ball over at an alarming rate. Heading to the fourth, PRA leads 69-40. — Kyle Newman
11:09 a.m.: Down big, Fort Lupton puts on the press in the second quarter, and it finally helps the Blue Devils generate some much-needed scoring and momentum. But the Miners still lead 43-28 heading into halftime. PRA’s Jackson Brandt leads all scorers with 18 points, while Fort Lupton is paced by 14 points from 6-foot-7 senior big man Guillaume Nkiadiambu. — Kyle Newman
10:48 a.m.: After one quarter, it’s all Miners, who lead 23-9. Sophomore captain Jackson Brandt already has 14 points, beating the Blue Devils all by himself. — Kyle Newman
10:35 a.m.: The Miners rip off a 10-0 lead over the Blue Devils to open the game, prompting a Fort Lupton timeout. — Kyle Newman
Class 4A girls final: No. 4 Holy Family 58, No. 5 Alamosa 39
10:09 a.m.: The Tigers ran away the game in the final quarter to advance to their fifth Final 4 in the last six seasons. Alexcia Oaxaca led Holy Family with 12 points, while Alamosa’s Morgan Ortega led all scorers with 13 points. Holy Family improved to 17-8, while Alamosa finished 19-7. — Kyle Newman
9:52 a.m.: Holy Family is in control, up 39-30 heading to the fourth quarter. Balanced scoring for the Tigers, while the Mean Moose had too many empty possessions in the third to cut into the deficit. — Kyle Newman
9:26 a.m.: Holy Family looked like it was going to pull away in the second quarter, stretching the lead to as many as 10 points, but the Mean Moose stormed back towards the end of the frame to make it a 26-22 Tigers lead heading into halftime. Gracie Ward has 7 points for the Tigers and Morgan Ortega has 7 points for the Mean Moose. — Kyle Newman
9:05 a.m.: At the end of the first quarter, Holy Family leads 16-10. The Tigers’ Gracie Ward leads all scorers with 7 points. Holy Family, the favorite in this game, controlled the tempo and momentum for the final few minutes of the frame after the teams were close early. — Kyle Newman
8:40 a.m.: We’re back at the Coliseum for another full day of basketball. First up: A showdown between 4A power Holy Family and the Alamosa Mean Moose. Holy Family has advanced to at least the Final Four four times in the last five years, while Alamosa comes in red hot with wins in 10 of its last 11 games. — Matt Schubert
Schedule and results
Class 4A boys
No. 5 Fort Lupton (21-4) vs. No. 4 Prospect Ridge Academy (19-6), 10:15 a.m.
No. 6 Coal Ridge (19-6) vs. No. 19 Timnath (18-7), 1:15 p.m.
No. 15 University (18-7) vs. No. 10 Colorado Academy (16-9), 5:30 p.m.
No. 1 Kent Denver (22-3) vs. No. 25 The Academy (14-11), 8:30 p.m.
Class 4A girls
No. 5 Alamosa (19-6) vs. No. 4 Holy Family (16-8), 8:45 a.m.
No. 2 Timnath (22-3) vs. No. 7 Pagosa Springs (18-7), 11:45 a.m.
No. 1 University (25-0) vs. No. 9 D’Evelyn (22-3), 4 p.m.
No. 6 Delta (17-6) vs. No. 19 Colorado Academy (13-12), 7 p.m.
