AURORA | A second half lead nearly got away from the Grandview boys basketball team in its first meeting with rival Cherokee Trail, but the converse was true in the rematch.
The Wolves nearly lost on a buzzer-beater to the Cougars in Centennial League, but this time took a two-point lead and kept on building on the way to a 59-40 victory that moved them into the Class 6A Sweet 16.
Senior Matthew Samson made three 3-pointers in a pivotal third quarter and finished with 13 points, while he was joined in double figures by seniors Noah Sevy (14) and Charlie Atkinson (10) for 13th-seeded Grandview, which advanced to advanced to the Sweet 16 for a second straight season.
Coach Ryan Turk’s Wolves (17-7) will play at No. 4 Arvada West — a 75-51 winner over No. 29 Valor Christian in the second round — at 7 p.m. March 3 with a Great 8 trip on the line.
Despite the defeat, Cherokee Trail had its first winning season in the past decade, as it finished 15-8 and with its most wins since a 19-win 2015-16 season.
Junior Jordan Mitchell scored 11 points to lead coach Brandon Brown’s Cougars, who also got seven from senior London Moore and six from senior Caleb Jensen.
The first meeting between the Aurora teams back on Jan. 23 with a 47-46 win for Grandview on Cherokee Trail’s home floor (where the Cougars had two chances in the final seconds to make the game-winning basket), while the rematch came with Wolves at home due to higher seeding.
In front of an absolutely packed house, the teams went back and forth in a tie opening quarter before Grandview pushed out to a double-digit lead in the second quarter.
An 3-pointer from junior Obi Morris made it 25-14 at the midway point of the period, but the Wolves wouldn’t score again as the Cougars reeled them in with the last nine of the period. Mitchell had four points in the burst, which also included a three-point play from Moore and two free throws from Jensen that made it 25-23 at halftime.
It was Grandview’s turn to make a run on the other side of the break, as it reeled off 10 of the first 12 points of the period to get back a double-digit advantage. Samson made two of his three 3-pointers in the quarter during the run and added another later to make it 42-28.
Atkinson got a dunk early in the fourth quarter as the Wolves made another run (this time 9-2), while shots would not fall for the Cougars on the other end. A goaltend on a shot put up by senior Jiovanni White made it a 19-point margin as Grandview continued to roll in the fourth quarter.
A win over Arvada West would put Grandview into the Great 8 for the first time since 2020, when it made it to the then-5A semifinals before it was wiped out due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 6A BOYS STATE BASKETBALL 2ND ROUND
(13) GRANDVIEW 59, (20) CHEROKEE TRAIL 40
Score by quarters:
Cher. Trail 14 9 9 8 — 40
Grandview 14 11 19 15 — 59
CHEROKEE TRAIL (40)
Jordan Mitchell 4 1-2 11, Caleb Jensen 1 4-8 6, London Moore 3 1-1 7, Jeremiah Shortis 2 0-0 4, Cameron Hopkins 0 1-2 1, Justyn Renfroe 1 2-2 4, Gavyn Kehoe 1 2-2 4, Anthony Ayon 1 0-0 3. Totals 13 11-17 40.
GRANDVIEW (59)
Noah Sevy 5 3-4 14, Jiovanni White 2 0-0 4, Charlie Atkinson 5 0-2 10, Matthew Samson 5 0-0 13, Ismael Kabongo 3 2-2 8, Omar Atieh 3 0-0 7, Obi Morris 1 0-0 3, Jason Stroope 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 5-8 59.
3-point field goals — Cherokee Trail (3): Jordan Mitchell 2, Anthony Ayon. Grandview (6): Matthew Samson 3, Omar Atieh, Obi Morris, Noah Sevy. Total fouls — Cherokee Trail 15, Grandview 13. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.