4A First Round Preview: Guy Gibbs Region
It’s playoff time! The Colorado Class 4A state tournament is set to kick off with the first round on Wednesday. A total of 16 games will be played, and they will determine who will face each of the four teams…
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Continue ReadingIt’s playoff time! The Colorado Class 4A state tournament is set to kick off with the first round on Wednesday. A total of 16 games will be played, and they will determine who will face each of the four teams that received first-round byes in each of the four regions.
Let’s take a look at each first-round matchup in the Guy Gibbs Region:
First-round byes: No. 3 Steamboat, No. 6 Pueblo West, No. 11 Cheyenne Mountain, No. 14 Pueblo East.
No. 30 Canon City (14-9) vs. No. 35 Erie (10-13), Wednesday, 6 p.m.
The Erie Tigers are heading down south to face the Rall boys and their Tigers in Canon City. Together, senior Gabe Rall (19.7) and sophomore Josh Rall (16.7) account for 58 percent of Canon City’s total scoring output, and containing them will be key for the Erie boys to leave town with a win. That won’t be easy because those two shoot the ball effectively and in volume from behind the 3-point line, and it’s hard to stop two guys who play that way. Erie’s strength is on the perimeter and they’ll try to hold down the host Tigers, and hopefully get a big game from sophomore Kevin Loy (16.7 ppg).
No. 19 Evergreen (15-8) vs. No. 46 Pueblo County (7-16), Wednesday, TBA
Most of these two teams’ regular-season games were low-scoring so expect this one to play out that way as well. With five players listed at 6-foot-4 or taller, Evergreen has a height advantage and will likely look to use that. The Evergreen boys reached the Sweet 16 last season and are in a prime spot in this year’s bracket for a return appearance. First, the Cougars will have to hold up against Pueblo County’s balanced attack featuring seniors Lane Sherwood (14.0 ppg), Blake Cesar (12.2) and Ryan Downs (11.7).
No. 27 Sierra (12-11) vs. No. 38 Sand Creek (9-14), Wednesday, 7 p.m.
These two teams are familiar with one another after playing head-to-head on Dec. 13. Sand Creek won that matchup on the strength of a big fourth quarter and 21 points from Dailen Terry. Sierra, however, enters Wednesday’s rematch as the higher seed and will have the home-court advantage this time around. The Sierra boys also have a few players capable of having a game-changing night, including senior Eugene Whitmore (14.1 ppg) and junior Imani Grigsby (13.3).
No. 22 Widefield (14-9) vs. no. 43 Battle Mountain (8-14), Wednesday, 6 p.m.
Six-foot-2 junior Randall Days (14.0 ppg) is having a breakout winter for Widefield, and he’ll be the young man to keep an eye on in this one as he does a little bit of everything for the Gladiators. Battle Mountain, however, has the greater height and length advantage even though both teams are quite good in the rebounding department. In terms of scoring, Battle Mountain’s Uziel Olivas (11.8 ppg) and Liam McKenny (11.6) lead the way for their team.