The Colorado 4A basketball playoffs began Feb. 26 and featured two Falcon School District 49 teams. Falcon came in ranked No. 8 in the Guy Gibbs Region bracket (one of four brackets in the tournament).They started the first round with an exciting win against Pueblo West. Falcon entered the locker room at half-time down by 4 points to the Cyclones. They managed to chip away at the deficit and started the third quarter down by only 3. The Falcons capped off the game with a dominating fourth quarter and won 48-46. Chances Matlock, a senior, finished with a team high 20 points, including 7 from the line. Despite not scoring a single point, senior Cody Curtisís hard work and hustle earned him maxpreps player of the game award.The second round was a different story for the Falcons when they played No. 1 ranked DíEvelyn (Denver) on their home court, where the Jaguars were undefeated. DíEvelyn dominated the game and took the win by a score of 75-69. Turnovers plagued the Falcons throughout the game, committing 18 to the Jaguars six. The Falcons field goal percentage was 10 percentage points lower than DíEvelyn. All of this added up to a disappointing end to a great season.After a first round bye, the Sand Creek Scorpions took on Steamboat Springs on Feb. 28. Senior Langston Bell and Michael DeCarmo, also a senior, each had a team-leading 17 points. Dylan Clark added a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Sand Creek never trailed after the first quarter and took the win at home 64-49. The Scorpions then moved on to the third round of the playoffs to face Denver West. Dylan Clark once again had an outstanding game with 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and played solid defense, with five steals. The scorpions again dominated the game and took the victory by a score of 67-45.In the Great Eight round, Sand Creek squared off against No. 1 ranked DíEvelyn in the Denver Coliseum. Sand Creek came in riding a wave of momentum after winning their last four games. The game started off shaky for the Scorpions, and they trailed by 7 at the end of the first quarter and by 4 at half-time. The Jaguars then padded their lead even more in the third quarter, and led by 8 points at the beginning of the final quarter. However, the Scorpions never gave up and outscored DíEvelyn 19-4 in the final quarter to win the game and move on to the final four. Dylan Clark led the team in scoring in the shocking, come-from-behind win.Now that the Scorpions had made it through the Guy Gibbs Bracket, it was on to the final four in Boulder, Colo., at The Coors Event Center at Colorado University.Sand Creek was set to take on Pueblo East, a fellow No. 2 seed. After one quarter of play, the teams were tied at 15. However, the Scorpions seemed to lose their stride and were outscored by 13 in the following two quarters. Sand Creek was able to cut the lead to 3 in the fourth but that was as close as they would get, losing the game by a final of 58 to 51.This game ended their season and was the last high school game for nine out of the 13 players on the roster.
