DENVER | The Smoky Hill boys basketball team had the program’s first trip to play for a state championship less than two good quarters away March 8.
The seventh-seeded Buffaloes held an eight-point lead in the opening two minutes of their Class 6A semifinal against No. 6 Valor Christian — a team they had defeated during the regular season — before the momentum swung.
Smoky Hill still had a point advantage midway through the final quarter, but saw the Eagles finish the final four minutes on a 15-3 run that earned them a 67-56 victory at Denver Coliseum and a spot in the 6A final against No. 4 ThunderRidge.
Coach Anthony Hardin’s Buffaloes — playing in the semifinals for the first time since 2006 — saw their season come to an end with a 20-7 record. Among those 20 wins was 70-68 home win over Valor Christian on Jan. 8 in which Smoky Hill outscored the Eagles 24-10 in the final quarter to come away with the victory (story, here).
In the rematch with much bigger stakes, senior Ray Gasaway scored 18 points, senior Kevin Sylla had 12 and junior Lorenzo Contreras had 11 for Smoky Hill, which came into the game on a high after a buzzer-beating win over No. 2 Mountain Vista in the Great 8.
The Buffaloes played their game early, getting up and down the floor and playing above the rim as Contreras found Gasaway for a highlight reel alley-oop dunk late in the opening quarter.
Junior Kaylan Graham made a 3-pointer to close the first quarter and another early in the second quarter as Smoky Hill moved out to a five-point lead. That was the margin as halftime, while it would grow to eight two minutes into the third quarter.
That’s when Valor Christian junior Cole Scherer took over and game was even going into the fourth quarter. Scherer scored 20 points in the final two quarters, finished with a game-high 29 points and could not be contained in crunch time.
Smoky Hill’s last lead came at 53-52 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Carter Basquez — the hero of the Great 8 win over Mountain Vista — but the Eagles scored 15 of the last 18 points. Senior Eli Kim had a putback followed by a 3-pointer that put Valor Christian in command going into the final minutes.
A three-point play by Contreras was all the Buffaloes put on the scoreboard in the final four minutes.
Though short of its ultimate goal, Smoky Hill finished as the Centennial League Challenge champions and were the highest seed of the five Aurora-area teams to make it into the 6A state tournament. The Buffaloes will graduate Gasaway, Sylla and reserve Jaylen Brown, but expect to return three starters — Graham, Contreras and Basquez — plus senior-to-be reserve Damian Dirden and others.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 6A BOYS BASKETBALL STATE SEMIFINALS
(6) VALOR CHRISTIAN 67, (7) SMOKY HILL 56
Score by quarters:
Smoky Hill 18 11 16 11 — 56
Valor Christian 16 12 17 22 — 67
SMOKY HILL (56)
Carter Basquez 2 2-4 7, Lorenzo Contreras 4 2-5 11, Ray Gasaway 7 0-0 18, Kaylan Graham 2 2-4 8, Kevin Sylla 5 2-3 12, Damian Dirden 0 0-0 0, Jaylen Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-16 56.
VALOR CHRISTIAN (67)
Cole Scherer 9 6-7 29, Eli Kim 4 3-4 14, Ryan Dixon 4 3-6 11, Brady Wynja 2 0-0 4, Ryan Mandes 1 2-2 4, Ryan Oblachinski 2 0-0 5, Grant Stevens 0 0-0 0, Carter Hutchinson 0 0-0 0, Ryan Murray 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 14-19 67.
3-point field goals — Smoky Hill (8): Ray Gasaway 4, Kaylan Graham 2, Carter Basquez, Lorenzo Contreras. Valor Christian (9): Cole Scherer 5, Eli Kim 3, Ryan Oblachinski. Total fouls — Smoky Hill 25, Valor Christian 20. Fouled out — Smoky Hill: Graham, Damian Dirden. Valor Christian: Carter Hutchinson. Technical fouls — Smoky Hill: Graham
