craigdailypress.com

All of the turnovers the Greeley Central boys basketball team forced Tuesday turned into the end of the season for the Moffat County Bulldogs.

The Wildcats forced 24 turnovers and committed 10 on Tuesday against visiting Moffat County, and Central used that to rally past the Bulldogs, 52-40, in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament at Baggot Gym.

"Hats off to Central," Moffat County coach Steve Maneotis said. "They made some great adjustments and they came out and pressured us. That many turnovers in a state-playoff atmosphere isn't going to get it done."

The victory moved the Wildcats (14-10), the fourth-place finisher in the Northern Conference Eastern Division, into a second-round matchup at unbeaten Cherokee Trail of Aurora (23-0) on Friday in the second round.

The loss ended the season for Moffat County, the 4A Western Slope League's fourth-place finisher, at 9-14.

Wildcat Gilbert Vasquez scored a game-high 15 points, Drew Willeke added 10 and Mike Elrick chipped in nine for the Wildcats, which rallied from a 17-11 deficit at the end of the first quarter. That came thanks to Central's defensive pressure, which forced Moffat County to hit 4-of-22 shots (18.1 percent) in the second half.

"There were some nerves, because we missed a lot of shots that we normally make," Central coach Troy Graefe said. "We talked at halftime and figured we weren't going to win with any special design. We were just going to have to gut it out."

Eli Buckner and Chayton Owens each scored nine to lead Moffat County, which hit 11-of-19 shots (57.8 percent) in the first half to take a 26-23 halftime lead. But the Wildcats fought back, using a pair of layup from Vasquez to take a 35-33 lead with 2:24 remaining.

Mike Peters of Moffat County answered with a foul shot with 50.9 seconds left in the stanza to cut the Bulldogs' deficit to one point.

But Central's Lucas Sage hit a pair of free throws with 0.4 seconds left in the quarter to spark an 8-0 run, putting the Bulldogs in a 43-34 hole with 6:16 remaining.

Moffat County couldn't respond, bringing an end to the high school careers of seniors Paul Nelson, Buckner and JT Haddan.

"We shot the ball well, but then we went out of our tempo," Maneotis said. "But we shot well in the first half, and I'm proud of the way our kids fought tonight."