Congratulation to your Class 3A Boys State Champions and State Tournament Recap
Congratulations to the Yuma Outlaws on winning the Class 3A State Tournament. Yuma captures their 7th State Title in program history, and they went on a great run to the State Title.
The Class 3A Boys State Tournament field was one of the most wide-open races in a long time. All 8 teams that reached the Elite 8 I felt had a shot at winning a State Title and that would be proven with plenty of upsets to happen. The opening round saw #1 Forge Christian hold off #9 Salida 59 to 50 in a tightly contested game. That saw the lead cut to just 6 late in the fourth quarter. #10 Banning Lewis defeated #2 Bishop Machebeuf 69 to 38. Banning Lewis had a masterful second half holding Machebeuf to just 13 points. Banning Lewis would advance. The first of two 1-point games was #3 Vanguard coming from behind to beat #6 Highland 62 to 61. Vanguard would trail going into the fourth quarter 44 to 40 and would at one point trail 59 to 51 in the fourth quarter. Vanguard would end the fourth quarter on a 11 to 2 run to help them secure the win. The game would not be decided until a game winning three was hit by Vanguard to give them the 62 to 61 win. The other 1-point game was a defensive slugfest with #4 Yuma defeating #5 Centauri 35 to 34. Yuma led at halftime 23 to 14 and would see their lead shrink to just 7 going into the fourth quarter 29 to 22. Centauri then went on their run and would even take the lead with a minute left at 34 to 33. Yuma would come up clutch and get the final two points to secure the 35 to 34 win.
Championship Semifinals would feature two teams playing their best basketball. The first semifinal was #3 Vanguard defeating #10 Banning Lewis 55 to 45. Banning Lewis would take the 15 to 8 lead after the first quarter and keep the 7 point margin until the fourth quarter. Banning Lewis led going into the fourth quarter 41 to 34. Vanguard then went on a huge run and outscored Banning Lewis 21 to 4 in the fourth quarter to secure the 10-point win. The other semifinal was another 1-point game between #1 Forge Christian and #4 Yuma. Yuma once again turned to their defense to make key plays. Yuma took the early lead and held a 23 to 14 lead going into the fourth quarter. Forge Christian would make their run in the third quarter and hold Yuma to just 3 points and they would trail 26 to 23. The fourth quarter would see Yuma hold the lead till late in the fourth quarter were Forge Christian would tie things up at 35 a piece and we would head to OT. Each team in OT would exchange buckets until a pair of free throws from Brody Sheffield pushed Yuma lead to 3 with less than a minute left. Forge Christian would respond with a made 3-pointer and tie things up with just 1.9 second left. Yuma would then hit a free throw by Cristian Duarte to secure the one-point win over Forge Christian
Championship Saturday featured a pair of one score games, and the excitement was high. The third-place game featured #10 Banning Lewis vs #1 Forge Christian. Banning Lewis would trail early in the game 16 to 14 but in the second quarter Banning Lewis would have their run winning the second quarter 17 to 12. Banning Lewis would see their lead cut to just 2 points in the third quarter but would end the game winning the fourth quarter 15 to 14. Banning Lewis captured the third-place trophy 53 to 50. The State Championship would feature #3 Vanguard vs #4 Yuma. This was an excellent game and featured Yuma coming from behind this time around. Vanguard jumped out to the early 23 to 12 lead after the first quarter before Yuma responded with a 14 to 7 second quarter. Yuma still trailed 30 to 26 heading into halftime. Yuma would continue to cut into the Vanguard lead having another winning quarter outscoring Vanguard 15 to 13 to set up the dramatic fourth quarter. Yuma early in the fourth quarter would take the lead with Brody Sheffield hitting the three and making the score 44 to 43. Yuma would see their lead disappear soon after but would hold a lead at 48 to 45 with 4 minutes remaining. Vanguard would go on a 5-0 to retake the lead at 50 to 48 with around 3 minutes left. Yuma would have a key three hit by Edwin Munoz to retake the lead and Cristian Duarte would make the lead 3 with a big FG. Vanguard would continue to trail but would cut the lead to just 1 with around a minute left at 55 to 54. Yuma would then turn to their defense to help hold the one-point lead and Vanguard had one shot at winning the game. A last second shot hit back iron and Yuma would secure the 55 to 54 win for the State Title.
Once again Congratulations to the Yuma Outlaws on winning the Class 3A Boys State Championship.
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