It has come down to the simple time of the season for the Yuma High School boys basketball team.
“It’s time to win or go home,” coach Dave Sheffield said. “Time to do your job and move forward.”
The Outlaws are 18-5 and the fourth seed in the 32-team 3A regional field.
That means they get to host a four-team regional Friday and Saturday in The Pit. The survivor will advance to the 3A Great 8 next week in Magness Arena at the University of Denver.
Yuma will play 29th-seed Monte Vista on Friday at 5:30 p.m., followed by 13th-seed Liberty Common taking on 20th-seed Buena Vista.
The winners will meet in the Sweet 16 on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Monte Vista Pirates will make the 356-mile trip to Yuma with a 10-12 record. They have lost six of their last seven games. University and Frontier Academy are common opponents with Yuma. Monte Vista lost 74-43 to University, but beat Frontier Academy 66-60. Yuma blew out Frontier Academy, but lost a buzzing-beating heartbreaker in Yuma two Fridays ago.
Buena Vista is bringing a 14-9 record on its 261-mile trip to Yuma. The Demons have lost four straight, and five of its last six as it takes on a Liberty Common team that is 12-11, and lost at Yuma last Wednesday in the Patriot League Tournament consolation semifinals.
As for Yuma, the Outlaws snapped a three-game skid by winning its last two games in the PLT to finish fifth. Besides the home win over Liberty Common, then cruised past Sterling 57-27 last Saturday in the fifth-place game at Weld Central High School. Sterling, 15-8, is hosting a 4A regional this weekend as the seventh seed.
A potential regional final looms Saturday against Liberty Common, a fellow member of the 3A Patriot League that the Outlaws already have beat twice this season in The Pit.
“They say its hard to beat a team three times in a season,” Sheffield said, “but you just have to beat them once that night.”
However, he said if it comes to it Saturday, the Eagles do provide challenges. He noted they created a lot of problems with Yuma last week, exploiting the Outlaws’ zone for open 3-pointers from the corners. Sheffield said he expects the Eagles to make other adjustments if the teams meet Saturday, but the Outlaws also will be making their own moves.
The Outlaws started out hot last Wednesday at home against Liberty Common, scoring 20 points in the first quarter for a 13-point lead. The lead increased to 27-9 early in the second when the Eagles started to battle back, ending the quarter on an 18-7 run to trail 34-27 at halftime.
Liberty Common got within four early in the third, but the Outlaws never let the visitors get closer. They led by nine at the end of the quarter, and pushed it well into double digits in the fourth to win comfortably.
The Outlaws shot a blistering 64 percent from the floor, including making four of nine behind the 3-point arc. Liberty Common sank seven treys, but Yuma made 26 of 38 inside the arc, while the vistors made just 10 of 28.
Brody Sheffield made three from deep while finishing with 27 points, six rebounds, nine assists and three steals. Jonathan Thomson had 17 points, six rebounds and three steals, Alex Pensado 14 points and three assists, Iann Duran five points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists, Noe Quezada five points and three rebounds, and Silas Baucke two points and three rebounds.
The win sent Yuma into Saturday’s fifth-place game against Sterling, which Highland in the other consolation semifinal.
Yuma led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter, but it was not close after that as the Outlaws scored 22 in the second for a 35-18 lead. They kept it up in the second half, particularly defensively as they held the Tigers to nine points, on the way to a 57-27 win.
The Outlaws shot 49 percent compared to 20 percent for Sterling. The Tigers made just five of 21 two-point shots, and made just five of 29 treys. Yuma shot eight of 15 from deep and made nine of 13 at the charity stripe.
Sheffield made seven of 10 treys, finishing with 28 points, six rebounds and six assists. Thomson had nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Pensado nine points and three rebounds, Baucke five oints and three rebounds, Duran five points and four rebounds, and David Covarrubias one point and three rebounds.