Basketball roundup

Local teams hit wall in drive for playo s

BY JIM BENTON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

e Cherry Creek and Arapahoe girls basketball teams both lost close semi nal games in the Class 6A state basketball tournament on March 10 at the Denver Coliseum.

Mountain Vista’s top-seeded boys teams also lost a Final Four game but it wasn’t close in the second Grandview sank four free throws in the closing seconds to defeat second-seeded Cherry Creek 3128 in a game between Centennial League rivals.

Arapahoe was forced to make a tough decision with 2.8 seconds remaining before dropping a 53-50 decision to Monarch.

Mountain Vista trailed Denver East by only one point at halftime but a big third-quarter surge propelled the Angels to outscore the Golden Eagles 51-33 in the second half en route to a 86-67 victory.

Mountain Vista Head Coach Brian Wood and Caden Stevens (22) share a moment as the game winds down. The Golden Eagles ended the season with an 86-67 Final Four loss to Denver East.

Cherry Creek (22-5) was down by eight points in the third quarter but rallied to grab a 28-27 lead with 1:37 remaining in the game. at’s when Isa Dillehay and Sienna Betts each made two free throws to provide the winning margin as Creek’s poor shooting continued in the second half of the turnover- lled contest.

Creek went 6:49 without scoring in the third quarter and shot only 15.8% in the second half and 20.9 percent for the game.

Still, the Bruins had a chance and were behind by a point with 12 seconds to play when Addison Beck missed a three-point shot.

“I’m disappointed for the kids,” said Creek coach Clint Evans. “ ey battled so hard defensively to try to limit Sienna but we couldn’t score. We had our best shooter with a wide-open three-pointer to take the lead and sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. I wanted Addy to shoot that shot.”

Betts, the 6-foot-4 sophomore who is the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year, had 16 points and 15 rebounds. Tianna Chambers led Creek with 10 points

Arapahoe (20-7) faced an almost no-win situation in its game against Monarch when the team trailed 51-47 with 12.1 seconds left in the game.