Pueblo West boys basketball beat Vista Ridge in the 4A Final 4. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
BOULDER — As a sophomore, Pueblo West’s Nieyeme Smyer-Williams isn’t supposed to knock down a clutch, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give his team the lead after three quarters.
But he decided to do that anyway.
Then he followed it up with another three at the start of the third. That helped ignite a 9-0 run that was key to the Cyclones (beating Vista Ridge 65-54 to advance to the Class 4A state title game. It is the first time in school history that the Pueblo West boys will play for a state championship.
“He doesn’t realize that he’s not supposed to hit that shot in a big game but he steps up and does it anyway,” Cyclones coach Bobby Tyler said. “Game after game, he always gives us that boost we need at a certain point.”
And did the Cyclones need that boost.
They knew they couldn’t keep Vista Ridge guard Hunter Maldonado contained for all 32 minutes. The 3-pointers from Smyer-Williams gave Pueblo West enough momentum to survive a fourth quarter that saw Maldonado score 19 of his game-high 35.
But at the end of the night, it just wasn’t enough.
The Wolves (20-7) had trouble with with the full court pressure that the Cyclones threw at them. They knew coming in to the game what they would being seeing from the Pueblo West defense, but mistakes stuck early, leading to Cyclones grabbing a lead in the second quarter.
“We knew that 2-2-1 press was going to come,” Vista Ridge coach Joe Hites said. “They capitalized on a few transition baskets early that I wish we had stopped the ball a little sooner.”
The Wolves were eventually able to grab a 35-33 lead, but the Cyclones quickly tied it up before Smyer-Williams hit the three at the end of the third quarter.
There probably hasn’t been a bigger shot in his career that he’s hit.
“No, I don’t think so,” Smyer-Williams said. “When I shot it, I thought it came off all wrong so I thought it was off, but it went in and all I could think of was ‘wow.'”
To start the fourth quarter, he found the ball early and put up another long-range shot that pushed the Pueblo West lead to 41-35.
“Now he’s supposed to hit that one,” Tyler said. “That one’s not drawn up, but that’s a shot out of his arsenal that we tell him that he needs to shoot that one.”
And like the story has been all tournament, when the Cyclones have the lead in the fourth quarter they know they’ll get to the free throw line and they’re happy to let David Simental know those shots down.
“My team trusts me and they know I’m going to hit them,” Simental said. “That’s the role I’ve been put it in.”
Seminal went 15-17 from the charity stripe on the night. He was 3-3 going into the fourth quarter. He ended with a team-high 27 points in the win.
“Money Simental, right,” Tyler said. “The kid is a freaking weapon.”
Seminal went 12-12 from the line against Mesa Ridge in the opening game of the tournament and has continued his clutch effort through the bracket. He insists that he’ll be able to connect on them in the biggest of moments.
“That’s the plan,” Simental said. “We’re just taking it one game at a time so that one won’t be any different.”
Pueblo West will face Valor Christian in the final after the Eagles rallied to beat Longmont.