It’s Lewis-Palmer vs. Longmont

Rangers defeat Pueblo West in thriller, Trojans get past Pueblo South to set up Saturday showdown for 4A championship

Lewis-Palmer and Longmont advanced to the Class 4A state championship game in boys basketball Saturday with semifinal victories Friday at the Denver Coliseum.

In the first semifinal game, Carter Kreischer drew a lastsecond charge to help LewisPalmer beat Pueblo West 56-54 and advance to the championship for a second consecutive season.

With the Rangers leading by two points, Cyclones senior Nieyem’e Smeyer-Williams charged to the basket and hit a running layup with about a half second left. But the charging foul erased the basket — and caused an uproar from Pueblo West’s fans — as the Rangers moved on for a shot at championship game redemption after losing to Valor Christian in the title game last season.

Lewis-Palmer used junior forward Joel Scott’s basket at the buzzer to take a 30-25 advantage into halftime. And it was LewisPalmer that, again, came up with a buzzer-beating basket to give the Rangers momentum when junior guard Ethan Forrester hit a long 3-pointer to make it 42-36 heading into the fourth quarter.

Scott led the Rangers with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Matthew Ragsdale — who hit the winning 3-pointer against Widefield in the Great 8 — contributed 12 points. Smeyer-Williams led the Cyclones with 22 points, while senior guard Pierre Taylor scored 12.

Longmont 71, Pueblo South 60. In a tight two-point game at halftime, the Trojans jump-started themselves after a 15-minute delay at the beginning of the third quarter because a ripped net had to be replaced.

When play resumed, Longmont used a sharpshooting third quarter — and a solid shooting performance overall, making 9-of-16 attempts from 3-point range — to advance to its second championship game in four seasons.

Longmont lost in overtime to Air Academy in the 2015 title game, and now will take on LewisPalmer at 3 p.m. Saturday for a crack at the program’s third state championship and first since 1942.

Senior guard Luke Johnson led Longmont with 20 points, while junior Brady Renck, sophomore Dallas Dye and junior Oakley Denning chipped in 10 apiece.

Pueblo South was led by 24 points from senior forward Marcell Barbee.