Justin Engesser, right, and his Colorado Springs Christian teammates face a challenging road in defending its Class 3A state championship. The Lions were seeded 11th and placed in the same opening quadrant with perennial powerhouse No. 6 Faith Christian.
File photo by Matt Daniels
Taking a quick glance at how the 2014-15 season came to a close, this year's version of the Class 3A state boys basketball tournament is a bit unexpected, to say the least.
The four semifinalists of a year ago –
Colorado Springs Christian,
Colorado Academy (Denver),
Faith Christian (Arvada) and
Lutheran (Parker) – will all be playing when the tournament gets underway Friday. But only Lutheran is a top-four seed headed into March.
The other three have a difficult road to get back to next weekend's Great 8, which takes place at the Denver Coliseum. Defending champion CSCS is the No. 11 seed after losing in the first round of district play, and will potentially have to get past sixth-seeded Faith Christian in the Sweet 16.
State runner-up Colorado Academy landed the 13th overall seed and has to travel to
Sterling, where the No. 4 Tigers could await in the second round.
Lions coach Mark Engesser expressed disappointment in the 3A seeding committee, which placed both his squad and Faith Christian in the same region after the two teams were ranked in the top five for much of the year. Faith Christian fell to Lutheran in the district title game.
"To put them six and us 11 and in the same region, I don't really understand it," Engesser said. "But it is what it is. If you want to win it all, you've got to beat everybody. It doesn't matter where or when – that's the mindset we're taking."
Colorado Springs Christian (17-5) was upset by
Lamar in districts but rebounded to win its next two games. The Lions, who had three of their losses come in a national tournament in December, limited The Vanguard School (Colorado Springs) and Trinidad to 36 and 38 points, respectively.
"I definitely saw focus because those next two teams were held to a season-low in points," said Engesser, whose teams opens with Bayfield. "Both teams were frustrated because they had a hard time scoring like they usually do."
Engesser admitted his squad hurt itself with the loss to Lamar, but added that being the defending champion carries some weight with it.
"If you can say that you beat the defending state champs, that makes your whole season," he said. "We got everyone's best, which hopefully will pay off in the playoffs."
Another team that had a strong season –
Denver School of Science & Technology: Green Valley Ranch – was handed the No. 9 seed despite being undefeated and upending second-seeded Lutheran twice this season. The Raptors travel to
Alamosa.
Three of the four top seeds didn't reach the Great 8 a year ago.
Denver Science & Tech Stapleton is the No. 1 seed, followed by Lutheran,
Manitou Springs and Sterling.
Class 5AThe first two rounds of the tournament played out pretty much as expected, with no real "upsets." Two of the four regions advanced the top four seeds into Wednesday's Sweet 16 round. Fifth-seeded
Denver East and
Arvada West made it into the third round in the other two regions.
Among the more interesting matchups in the Sweet 16 include top-seeded
Eaglecrest (Centennial) drawing East in the Jim Baggot Region. The two teams met earlier this season, a game that was close until the Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Colbey Ross had a season-high 38 points for Eaglecrest in the game.
Another rematch between two of the hottest teams in 5A comes out of the Chauncey Billups Region, where second-seeded
Chatfield (Littleton) hosts No. 3
George Washington (Denver). The two teams played in the season opener, a Chargers victory. Chatfield has won 13 games in a row, and the Patriots have won nine consecutive games and 11 of their past 12.
Class 4AThe quarterfinals are set in the 4A classification, with games being played at home sites Saturday.
Each of the top four seeds moved into the Great 8, while No. 3 seeds
Mead (Longmont) and
Windsor of the Tri-Valley League and
Vista Ridge (Colorado Springs) joined the remaining No. 2 seed,
Denver South.
Vista Ridge draws
Lewis-Palmer (Monument), which defeated the Wolves twice during the regular season – the first coming by only three points in a low-scoring 39-36 affair. Longmont defeated Mead in the season opener, and those teams match up in the quarterfinals as well.
Pueblo West, winner of seven in a row, takes on Denver South; and Windsor, which dropped its final two regular-season games only to bounce back against Thomas Jefferson (Denver) and Pueblo South, visits
Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch).
