Basketball Recap: Sammy Barajas and Diego Bueno Secure Win for Denver North

It may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Denver North ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They snuck past the Thomas Jefferson Spartans with a 74-70 victory. For the Vikings, this counts as revenge for the 66-47 win the Spartans walked away with the last time they faced one another back in January of 2024.

Leading Denver North to victory were Diego Bueno and Sammy Barajas. Bueno dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten boards, while Barajas posted 14 points in addition to eight assists and six rebounds. Denver North is 8-4 when Bueno posts ten or more rebounds, but 1-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Brayden Thornton, who went 5 of 12 on his way to 15 points.

Vikings

Previous 3 Games

01/28/25 @ Thomas Jefferson	74-70
01/22/25 vs Montbello	75-31
01/17/25 vs Regis Groff	81-36

Denver North smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in four consecutive matchups.

When it comes to explaining why Thomas Jefferson lost, don't look at Shane Curry. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 27 points and 11 boards. That was a full 38.6% of Thomas Jefferson's points, marking the fifth time in a row he's scored more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Zack Vanabbema, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine rebounds.

Denver North has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a massive bump to their 9-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.4 points per game. As for Thomas Jefferson, they moved to 10-5 with that defeat, which also ended their eight-game winning streak.

Denver North and Thomas Jefferson should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps Colorado Rankings. Denver North will square off against Hinkley at 7:00 p.m. on Friday up 182 places (150 vs. 332). Similarly, Thomas Jefferson (ranked 123rd) will meet Montbello (ranked 334th) at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.