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Sierra bracing for this week's huge basketball game against Lewis-Palmer
With that other big game now in the books, area fans can start the short countdown to the Super Bowl of the high school boys’ basketball regular season: Lewis-Palmer at Sierra.
The 4A Metro heavyweights meet at 7 p.m. Friday in a game so big it’s already presenting logistical nightmares for the hosts.
With 1,300 available seats, the Stallions’ gym likely won’t hold everyone that wants to see the game. So, while most high school games have lackadaisical door procedures — pay your money, grab a roster, go on in — this one will be more closely monitored.
Sierra athletic director Mike Geniesse said there will be tables set up at the two doors that enter into the gym and both will have 650 tickets.
“When those run out, that’s it. We have to lock the doors,” Geniesse said. “I know some people won’t like it, but what can we do?
“It’s a good problem to have, though.”
The game is attracting so much attention because of a perfect storm of circumstances. First, the teams are good and have been for a long time. Sierra (19-0, 11-0 4A Metro) has two state titles in the past three years, Lewis-Palmer (17-1, 10-0) has been to three state semifinals in that stretch. They are a combined 75-6 against 4A Metro teams over the past three seasons (all three of the Rangers’ losses are against the Stallions).
The game also features two of the state’s premier players in Lewis-Palmer’s Josh Scott (the state’s leading scorer at 30.5 points per game) and Sierra’s Wesley Gordon (the shot-blocker extraordinaire who scored 49 points in a game against Sand Creek last month).
Both the 6-foot-7 Gordon and the 6-9 Scott have committed to play next season at Colorado.
This will be their final regular-season meeting against each other and a league title likely hangs in the balance even if one has a let-up this week — Lewis-Palmer hosts Cheyenne Mountain on Tuesday while Sierra hosts Palmer Ridge.
If you want to see it, Geniesse recommends coming hours early. Of course, as two of the past three games between the Rangers and Stallions have gone to overtime, you should also plan on staying late.
