Cherry Creek Holiday Classic Tournament: Day one results and standouts

<p>The 2019 Cherry Creek Holiday Classic Tournament tipped off yesterday with some exciting games on hand.  The first game of the afternoon started with <strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong> getting the upset win 80-79 over <strong>Mountain Vista</strong>.  TJ was led by senior <strong>Darius Hornbuckle </strong>who had 26 points, connecting on four of his six attempts from behind the three-point arc. <strong>James Abbey jr. </strong>also had a strong game for TJ, scoring 17 points and pulling five boards in the game.  Senior, <strong>Keshaun Taylor </strong>recorded a career and season high 19 points for the Spartans.  TJ will face off against Fairview tomorrow at 6:00 P.M. for the chance to play in the championship game on Saturday.  For Mountain Vista, it was senior <strong>Reece Kelly </strong>who led the way in scoring with 25 points and nine rebounds, shooting five of ten from three-point range and connecting on all of his field goals inside the arc.  <strong>Ben Bowen </strong>had 15 points on an off shooting day, going two of eight from three.</p> <p>The second game of the day had a battle bested <strong>Fairview</strong> team going up against a well coached <strong>Cherokee Trail</strong> team which made for another good game.  Fairview would go up 26-24 on CT going into half on a buzzer beater to end the half.  CT went to a zone defense which seemed to slow the Knights down in the second quarter but they would respond out of half.  Fairview would go on to score a game high 22 points in the third quarter to take a 48-42 lead into the fourth.  <strong>Mark O'Neil </strong>scored nine of his 18 points in the third to help the knights gain some momentum.  The fourth quarter was tough for both teams in terms of scoring, <strong>Jalen Page </strong>had two nice back to back buckets for Fairview and his younger brother <strong>Grant Page </strong>would add a bucket on the third passion to score six of the ten Fairview points in the fourth.  For CT, it was <strong>Tre Titus </strong>that led the way with 14 points, nine of which came from behind the arc.<strong>  Isaac Tesfaye </strong>did not play for CT, but sophomore <strong>Austin Gibson </strong>stepped up as well as <strong>Phillip Toledo</strong>. In the end Fairview would get the 58-54 win, CT will advance to play Mountain Vista at 3:00 P.M. tomorrow.</p> <p>The third game of the day had <strong>Legend</strong> going up against <strong>Lincoln</strong>.  It was a tight fought game for thirty-two minutes with teams trading buckets each quarter.  For Lincoln, it was the two stars, <strong>Ty Foster and TJ Bamba </strong>who would combine for 50 points to get the 60-51 win over Legend.  Bamba led the way for Lincoln, scoring 15 of his game high 29 from the foul-line, Foster would add 21, ten of which came in the first with a couple steals that lead to breakaway dunks for him.  For legend, it was <strong>Garrett Siebert</strong> who had 18 points, knocking down two threes in the first quarter to get himself going. Junior, <strong>Tanner Lamb </strong>was their second leading scorer on the night with 13 points, nine of which came from behind the three-point arc.  Lincoln will play Cherry Creek tomorrow evening at 7:30 for the opportunity to advance to the tournament championship game. </p> <p>The fourth game had the tournament host, <strong>Cherry Creek</strong> going against <strong>Vista Ridge</strong>.  The Bruins came out strong from the tip, jumping on Vista Ridge 26-4 in the first quarter. <strong>Julian Hammond</strong> would lead the way for the Bruins with a quick eight points in the first. The Bruins would take a 41-8 lead into halftime. <strong>Myles Purchase</strong> and <strong>Davey Hand</strong> both had 13 on the night. Hand is a player the Bruins will rely on to knock down the open shot and space the floor.  Vista Ridge would respond out of half though, scoring 22 points in the quarter.  <strong>Jabez Hasberry </strong>led them in scoring with 18 points, including four threes in the second half.  <strong>Trey Fowler </strong>was second on the team in scoring with 12 points , six of which came in the big third quarter.  <strong>Andrew Johnson </strong>was another play that stuck out for Vista Ridge, hitting a couple of threes and creating his own shot off the dribble.  With the large lead several of the starters for Creek did not play much in the second half, but Vista Ridge did a nice job of holding them to 21 points in the second half.  The final score was 62-50, Cherry Creek will face Lincoln in the second semi-final game Friday evening at 7:30.  For Vista Ridge, they will face Legend at 4:30.</p> <p>Friday's Games:</p> <p>3:00 P.M. Cherokee Trail Vs. Mountain Vista</p> <p>4:30 P.M. Vista Ridge Vs. Legend </p> <p>6:00 P.M. Fairview Vs. Thomas Jefferson (semi-final)</p> <p>7:30 P.M. Cherry Creek vs. Lincoln (semi-final) </p>