AURORA | Fortunately, one huge quarter was enough to save the season for the Smoky Hill boys basketball team.
The seventh-seeded Buffaloes frustrated coach Keenon Clement with their lack of aggressiveness against visiting 10th-seeded Standley Lake for three quarters Wednesday night, but a 30-12 final quarter explosion secured a 67-58 victory and passage to the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs.
Senior Trent Clay scored a game-high 23 points — including 13 in the fourth quarter — and senior Chris Williams scored 14 in the final period and 17 for the game to boost Smoky Hill, which earned a chance to play No. 2 Regis Jesuit at 6 p.m. Saturday in an all-Aurora 2nd round state playoff contest.
“It was the craziest, slowest, ugliest game for three quarters, then we finally started doing what we do and we had kids who started attacking,” said Clement, whose team won its opening playoff game for the second time in three seasons.
“We were scared of the moment and honestly at some points I thought we were going to lose this game, but then we just started being fearless,” he added. “Once the fear of losing left us, we were like screw it, lets do our thing and play our way.”
The Buffaloes found themselves trailing by 10 points through three quarters against Standley Lake (10-14), which got big games from star Marcus Asmus (22 points) and Dylan Critchfield (15) and got Smoky Hill out of sorts with a 2-3 zone defense.
Finally, at Clement’s behest, Smoky Hill players began attacking the gaps in the zone and making things happen.
Williams had a big burst of points himself and so did Clay, who drained back-to-back 3-pointers and had a dunk to ignite the large Buffs crowd. The duo combined for 25 of Smoky Hill’s 30 points in the decisive final period.
“Chris scored about 10 straight and that really brought us energy,” Clay said. “Our role players stepped up like they always do late in the game. … We came out flat and didn’t really play to our ability early, but we stuck around and had some big-time leaders make plays. We’re looking forward to going to Regis on Saturday.”
Next up is a trip to Regis Jesuit as the Buffs take on the Raiders and coach Ken Shaw, a former Smoky Hill head coach.
“With their resume and our resume, we know who the favorite is,” Clement said. “But this time of year, you just throw the ball up and go after it.”
Smoky Hill’s win made it 3-for-4 for Centennial League teams in the first round, as No. 6 Cherry Creek and No. 9 Mullen also won. Fifth-seeded Cherokee Trail lost 67-64 to clearly-underseeded No. 12 Rampart in the last league contest.
Note: Clement rewarded the Smoky Hill faithful by spending $150 on pizza for the crowd.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com
(7) SMOKY HILL 67, (10) STANDLEY LAKE 58
Score by quarters:
Standley Lake 14 14 18 12 — 58
Smoky Hill 11 12 14 30 — 67
STANDLEY LAKE (58)
Eric Turner 1 0-1 2, Lukas Gaudermann 2 0-0 4, Marcus Asmus 9 4-4 22, Connor Durant 3 2-3 8, Dylan Critchfield 7 1-2 15, Jeremy Minnick 1 0-0 3. Totals 23 7-10 58.
SMOKY HILL (67)
Trent Clay 7 7-9 23, Connor Mooney 1 0-0 3, Unwana Ekiko 3 3-7 9, Chris Williams 6 4-6 17, Octavian Walker 1 0-0 2, Colby Johnson 1 0-0 2, Dalontae Kelly 2 1-3 6, Trei Major 1 0-0 2, Jeremy Campbell 1 1-2 3, Khalil Combs 0 0-0 0, Anthony Sanchez 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 16-27 67.
3-point field goals — Standley Lake: Jeremy Minnicl. Smoky Hill (5): Trent Clay 2, Dalontae Kelly, Connor Mooney, Chris Williams;
