LOVELAND – A year removed from losing in the Class 2A boys state championship game, the Limon Badgers are one win away from an opportunity to redeem themselves.
Limon turned a 1-point game at halftime into a 12-point, 41-29 quarterfinal victory over Crowley County Thursday at the Budweiser Events Center.
The No. 2-seed Badgers (22-3) will face No. 3 Sanford in the semifinals today for a berth in Saturday’s championship game.
First, however, Limon had to get past a Crowley County team that wasn’t about to go down easily.
“I thought we got off to a really good start,” Limon head coach Dirk Pedersen said. “I think we scored the first eight points, made some shots then they kind of made some adjustments, kind of shut down our perimeter guys. They’re big and physical and athletic and we had trouble getting it into our guys inside but I thought our kids played good enough defense to battle through so we could have a lead at halftime.”
Limon led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, but Crowley County battled back in the second half to make it 19-18 at the break.
Turnovers and sloppy play, according to Pederson, led to the second-half surge by Crowley County to turn their 6-point deficit to only one with 16 minutes to play.
“We talked about being very strong with the ball,” senior Brady Rockwell said. “We were kind of careless with it the whole first half and we had a lot of turnovers so we knew if we just took care of the ball, we would be fine.”
The Badgers turned up their defense in the second half, holding Crowley County to just five points while scoring 10 of their own in the third quarter to take a 29-23 lead.
In the final quarter, the Badgers went ahead by 10, 33-23, before Crowley County made one last run to get within four at 33-29.
From there, Limon closed the game on an 8-0 run.
“The whole year, we have talked about playing for the brother next to you,” Rockwell said. “I feel like we do that really well. It’s not about yourself, it’s about the team. I feel like that is what a good team will do and I feel like that’s what we have.”
Defense was a big factor in the Badgers’ victory as well. They held Crowley County to 10 points or fewer in each quarter – and held the Chargers to only 11 second-half points.
“We pride ourselves on our defense,” Pedersen said. “We want to be physical and make them take tough shots. They did a good job of countering what we were doing, but I thought our big guys did a great job inside not letting them catch it and be able to score.”
Rockwell led all scorers with 24 points. Kaden Becker added 12 for the Badgers. Crowley County, which ended its season at 19-6, was led by Rashaun McNeil’s eight points.
No. 1 Yuma 63, No. 8 Lotus School for Excellence 42
Top-seed Yuma had little trouble with Lotus School for Excellence, going wire-to-wire for a 21-point victory and its second straight Final 4 berth.
Yuma improved to 23-1 and will face Denver Christian in the semifinals. Lotus ended its season at 19-5.
Yuma jumped to a big 16-4 first-quarter lead and led 31-20 at halftime before holding Lotus to two points in the third quarter and taking a 46-12 lead into the final period.
Lotus scored 30 points in the fourth quarter with Adani Hassan scoring all 19 of his points in the period. Elias Dessalegn added 13 for Lotus.
Twelve different players scored for Yuma, led by Clay Robinson’s 12. Beau Tate added 10.
No. 4 Denver Christian 53, No. 5 Wray 51
There will be a new champion this year in Class 2A as Denver Christian won a close game in double overtime over defending champion Wray.
Wray took an early lead and led 10-4 after the first quarter and 32-12 at halftime. Denver Christian won the second half, outscoring Wray 11-4 in the third quarter and 16-12 in the fourth to send the game to overtime tied at 39.
Each team scored four points in the first overtime before Denver Christian outscored Wray 10-8 in the second overtime.
Denver Christian improved to 20-4 and will face top seed Yuma in the semifinals while Wray finished its season at 18-7.
Ben Buhler led Denver Christian with 18 points. Aden Cariveau added 12. Bryant Schoenthal led Wray with 30.
No. 3 Sanford 43, No. 6 Peyton 36
Sanford denied Peyton a return trip to the semifinals with a 7-point victory while setting up a semifinal matchup of its own against top-seeded Limon.
A close contest after 16 minutes – the game was tied at 6 after one quarter and Peyton led 16-14 at halftime – Sanford began to pull away in the third quarter.
The Indians outscored Peyton 15-8 in the third quarter and 14-12 in the fourth. Peyton got within four points a couple of times in the closing minutes, but couldn’t get any closer.
McCray Larsen led Sanford with a game-high 24 points. Cash Caldon added 12. A.J. Lashley led Peyton with 10.
Sanford improved to 21-4 and will face Limon in the semifinals while Peyton ended its season at 17-7.