LOVELAND – Despite scoring only six points in the first quarter, No. 1 seed Yuma found its offense in the second quarter and then held off No. 4 seed Denver Christian to advance to the 2A state championship game with a 59-49 semifinal victory Friday at the Budweiser Events Center.
Yuma (24-1) will face No. 3 seed Sanford tomorrow, looking for its first state title since 2019.
“I’ve said it all year, wins or losses, you take them or whatever, I’ll take this team anywhere,” Yuma head coach David Sheffield said. “They are great kids. They work hard. They don’t have bad attitudes. They do it right. I am just glad I get to coach them another day.”
Denver Christian had a big first quarter both offensively and defensively. The Thunder turned a 5-4 lead into a 13-4 advantage with an 8-0 run and led 15-6 at the end of the period.
In the second quarter, the roles were reversed. The Thunder held Yuma to only eight points in the period and went on a 12-0 run in the middle of the stanza to take a 25-23 lead at halftime.
“Obviously, those guys were a really good team,” Yuma senior Javier Gamboa said. “They are a really, really good team. We were kind of expecting them to make some runs, but we just had to stay poised. We knew they were going to make runs so we were just trying to stay poised and do what we do and play basketball and come back and trust our shots, trust our teammates.”
Denver Christian started the second half the way it started the first, scoring the first six points of the period to go ahead 29-25. But Yuma scored the next four points to tie the game at 29.
The Thunder then scored six straight to go ahead 35-29 before Gamboa made a 3-pointer just before the end of the quarter to cut the Thunder lead to 35-32.
As the fourth quarter began, it was Yuma that started strong, scoring the first six points, to take a 38-35 lead that they would not relinquish.
“These kids are resilient,” Sheffield said. “They have done it all year. It is the most consistent effort team that I have seen and definitely coached. They just don’t stop so it keeps just wearing on teams. That is what allowed us to weather their runs and push forward.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Denver Christian cut the Yuma lead to two points at 45-43, but the Indians were able to make free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Yuma made 14 of 17 from the free-throw line in the final eight minutes.
Clay Robinson was a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line and 10-for-10 in the fourth quarter. He finished with a game-high 22 points. Gamboa added 10 for the Indians.
Ben Buhler led Denver Christian (20-5) with 12 points. The Thunder will face Limon for third place.
Now Yuma will turn their attention to No. 3 Sanford as they try to win their first title since 2019 when they won the second of back-to-back titles.
“It’s amazing.” Gamboa said. “We have the whole town of Yuma behind us. It’s awesome. We are back at it tomorrow. We’ll be prepared so it will be a good one tomorrow too.”
No. 3 Sanford 44, No. 2 Limon 40
Sanford punched its ticket to tomorrow’s title game and a chance for its first state championship since 2016 with a four-point win over Limon.
The game came down to the final minutes as the Badgers cut a six-point deficit to two with under three minutes to play.
With 2:08 remaining, Sanford went back up by four at 42-38, but with 1:45 to go, Limon made it a one-possession game again.
Limon’s Trey Hines missed a layup that would have tied the game at 42 with 38 seconds to go and Sanford’s Kelton Gartrell made a layup with 12 seconds left to make it 44-40 and the Badgers weren’t able to score any more.
The game was back-and-forth from the start. Sanford led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and Limon led 32-31 going into the fourth quarter.
Ethan Larsen led Sanford with 12 points. Gartrell added 10 for the Indians. Jordan Rockwell led Limon with 15.
Sanford (22-4) will face Yuma in the championship game while Limon (22-4) will play Denver Christian for third place.