5A First Round Preview: Larry Farmer Region
It’s playoff time! The Colorado Class 5A 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 5A 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 Larry Farmer region:
First-round byes: No. 3 Rangeview, No. 6 Grandview, No. 11 Rock Canyon, No. 14 Arvada West.
No. 30 Valor Christian (11-12) vs. No. 35 Windsor (12-11), Wednesday, TBA
It’s strange to see these two teams enter the postseason with near-.500 records after Valor Christian and Windsor won 17 and 18 games, respectively, last season. But that experience doesn’t count for nothing, and these teams definitely have talent. For Valor, junior Roger Rosengarten leads the team with 15.5 points a night, multi-sport stud Cole Bott (12.2 ppg) blocks nearly two shots a night and senior Hunter Shkapich (10.1) is as athletic as they come at six foot. Several of the Windsor Wizards’ top players have missed time with injury but they’re hopefully healthy and ready to go.
No. 19 Fountain-Fort Carson (16-7) vs. No. 46 Prairie View (11-12), Wednesday, 7 p.m.
The Fountain-Fort Carson boys were four points away from the second round last season and you can bet they’ve been waiting for another chance to put a run together. The Trojans have several exciting players in a crew led by Keyshawn Maltbia and Rashon Barron, and play a high-scoring brand of basketball. The Prairie View boys hope their opportunistic defense can slow the Trojans down and senior Dalton Knecht (21.4 ppg) can have a big night to pace the offense.
No. 27 Boulder (12-11) vs. No. 38 George Washington (11-12), Wednesday, TBA
The Boulder Panthers started the season with a 1-9 record but won 11 of their final 13 games. They also beat rival Fairview, a No. 8 seed in the postseason, in their season finale behind 23 points from junior Tyler Turner (12.8 ppg). First-year head coach and Boulder product Riley Grabau has the Panthers trending strongly in the right direction. GW is having a rare down year after winning over 20 games in each of the past two season, and 15 or more in their last four. But 6-foot-4 sophomore Kendale Johnson (18.8 ppg) is a game changer and the Patriots still believe they have the pieces to put together a run.
No. 22 Brighton (18-5) vs. No. 43 Vista Ridge (10-13), Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
The Brighton Bulldogs lost just five games during the regular season and two were against No. 3 Rangeview. Senior Brayden Schlitt leads the Bulldogs with 16.6 points a night. Vista Ridge has a talented scorer of its own in Payton Kaiser (14.6 ppg) as well as a trio – Micah Hilts (10.8), Tyler Edwards (10.3) and Julius Dowell (10.3) – of other double-digit scorers. Still, it seems like a tall task for Vista Ridge to slow down a Brighton team that averages 75 points in its final two regular-season games.