20 Highlands Ranch Herald
LOCAL
March 7, 2019M
SPORTS
Area teams notch three spots in Final Four Young bowler’s passion for sport leads to state title
Class 5A boys basketball state tournament dominated by Douglas County schools
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BY JIM BENTON JBENTON@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA
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hree Continental League teams advanced to the Final Four of the Class 5A boys basketball state tournament. Top-seeded Chaparral (22-4) will play ThunderRidge (21-5) in an 8:30 p.m. semifinal contest on March 8 at the Denver Coliseum, while Mountain Vista (24-2) challenges non-Continental team Rangeview (24-2) in a 7 p.m. encounter. Chaparral beat ThunderRidge twice during the regular season, winning 58-44 on Dec. 8 and 60-49 on Feb. 8. The last time a Mountain Vista team played Rangeview was in 2010 and the Golden Eagles lost, 73-51. In Great 8 games played March 2 at the Coliseum, Chaparral held off Cherry Creek, 67-62, second-seeded Mountain Vista downed Smoky Hill, 77-72, and fifth-seeded ThunderRidge eliminated Overland, 73-49. Chaparral and Creek were tied for the 10th time in the game at 57 with 3:36 remaining in the game, but 4 points from Kobe Sanders, 4 from Joseph Dalton and 2 from Tizell Lewis in the closing minutes helped propel the Wolverines into the semifinals. Senior Bryce Matthews made 8-of-9 field goal attempts and paced Chaparral with 20 points and eight rebounds. Tanner Giles had 13 points and eight rebounds, while Sanders and Dalton Waldron contributed 10 points. Waldron also had eight rebounds. Julian Hammond III scored 21 points, 16 coming in the second half, for the Bruins. Chaparral coach Tellus Truesdale noted the Wolverines had plenty of motivation heading into the game. “We have a group of seniors that have been here before,” said Truesdale. “I have an article above my desk for the whole year after we lost last year in the Great 8. I said it would be a learning experience. “I told our guys before we went into the playoffs that I look at that every day when I go into the office for a reason. It hurt last year because we felt we had enough. Final Four is great but we are not satisfied just making the Final Four.” Senior guard Ben Grusing was satisfied with the play of Mountain Vista down the stretch against Smoky Hill. Grusing scored 12 of Vista’s final 18 points as the Golden Eagles survived an amazing display of shooting when Smoky Hill hit four 3-pointers in
ThunderRidge’s Chris Franquemont drives to the hoop as Overland’s Ayo Fadeyi tries to stop him. The Grizzlies got out in front by 16 points early and never looked back as they defeated Overland 73-49 March 2 at the Denver Coliseum. PAUL DISALVO 33 seconds during the final minute to pull within 75-72 with 10 seconds to play. Two free throws by Corban Gamble with nine seconds showing on the clock sealed the victory. “I thought we played very well at the end,” said Grusing. “They were hitting shots and they were a good team and we knew they were going to make a run. We just had to stay disciplined.” Mountain Vista was 22-of-29 from the foul line compared to 7-of-11 for Smoky Hill. “Our free throws were gigantic,” said Vista coach Bob Wood. “I thought we played horrible in our first playoff game and a little better last week. We
are going in the right direction now. Hopefully, that will continue.” Grusing was Vista’s top scorer with 20 points. Simon May had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Luke Boeyrink finished with 11 points and Rhys Pulling scored 10 points. ThunderRidge jumped to a 16-0 lead against Overland and never looked back as coach Joe Ortiz will lead the Grizzlies into their 10th Final Four appearance as a head coach. It will be the 16th time Ortiz, a 1982 Littleton High School graduate, has been coaching on a team in the state semifinals. SEE BASKETBALL, P32
yler Seeley recently won a state championship but hardly anybody noticed. Seeley, a junior who attends Legend High School, is a bowler who captured the boys Colorado High School Bowling Federation state OVERTIME championship on Feb. 16-17 at AMF Belleview Lanes in Englewood. You won’t find Seeley’s name in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s record book or a Jim Benton story about him on CHSAANow.com since bowling is not a CHSAA-sanctioned sport. “A lot of people don’t know or care for that matter about bowling,” said Seeley. “But it’s my passion so I am really excited.” In 13 games during the individual competition, Seeley advanced through cut-downs into bracket play. He averaged 213.9 for 13 tournament games. In the head-to-head finals when a bowler can’t afford to miss a spare, he averaged 212.4 a game “I bowled pretty well,” said Seeley, who took home a trophy and scholarship money which went into his account. “I won so I bowled well enough. I had to bowl real well because I had some tough competition.” He is starting to draw interest from colleges that have men’s varsity bowling teams. Seeley bowled on the East Denver co-op team and his coach was David Kling. Tyler’s victory was special for Kling, which is another twist to this story. Kling’s son, Trevor, was an avid bowler. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer, he bowled competitively. He passed away in October 2017 at the age of 12. “He’s (David Kling) a good friend of ours and we do a lot outside of bowling with him,” said Seeley. “He really helped me and gave me a lot of good advice in coaching. It was real special to me to win as well. He (Kling) volunteered his time for all of this.” Youth coaching is a way for Kling to repay the bowling committee. “When my son was sick and passed away, the bowling community helped me and my family a lot, financially, mentally and the whole nine yards,” said Kling. SEE BENTON, P22