Golden junior Adam Thistlewood toes the free-throw line Wednesday night on his way to 23 points. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Golden’s boys basketball coach John Anderson felt his Demons needed a bit of a mid-season tweaking.
“We kind of realized it in the last couple weeks that this team needs more possessions and to do that we need to play a little more uptempo,” Anderson said after the Demons took a 64-48 road victory against Green Mountain on Wednesday night.
A little bit of a different full-court pressure defense and Golden’s trademark half-court trap allowed the likes of junior Adam Thistlewood and senior Kayden Sund to get going early.
Thistlewood and Sund each had dunks off turnovers within 20 seconds of each other in the first quarter. Sund opened up the second half with an impressive slam over a Ram defender and converted the following free-throw after a foul, pushing the Demons’ lead to double-digits.
Golden junior Joe Madsen (22) slips past Green Mountain senior Justin Booher. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We were on a roll,” said Thistlewood, who had 20 points by halftime. “It was great to see Kayden do that kind of work. That and-one dunk was impressive, mind-boggling. It was a good start for us.”
Thistlewood (23 points) and Sund (14 points) looked to juniors Jack Moore and Joe Madsen in the second half with the Demons on cruise control. Moore (nine points) his a pair of 3-pointers as Golden pushed its lead to 24 points midway through the third quarter.
“That’s what my role is to hit the shot when they (Thistlewood or Sund) go inside and the defense collapses on them,” Moore said. “They are the focal points of the team. When they get going the defense focuses on them. That’s where I come in.”
Madsen did his work on the inside and from the free-throw line to finish with nine points.
Green Mountain had stretches of getting things together offensively. Junior Alex Telles (12 points) made four 3-pointers in the second half. After a quiet first half, senior Justin Booher finished with 10 points.
The Rams’ shooting just wasn’t reliable enough to upset the No. 5 ranked Golden (12-2, 4-1 in Jeffco) in the current CHSAANow.com Class 4A boys hoops poll.
“We are going to have to and we can,” Green Mountain coach Derek Van Tassel said of the Rams’ shooting needing to be better. “We just need to be more consistent. We need to play better.”
Senior Jake Haertl started hot early for the Rams with 11 of his team-high 15 points in the first half.
Green Mountain senior Jake Haerti had 15 points Wednesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“He (Haerti) was the one being aggressive,” Van Tassel said. “That is why it was working for him so well.”
Green Mountain (7-5, 2-2) has its first of two conference match-ups against league-leading and No. 4 D’Evelyn on the Jaguars’ home court 7 p.m. Friday night. Everyone is attempting to chase down the D’Evelyn in the conference standings. The Jaguars (12-2, 5-0) have a 1-game lead nearing the midway point in the league schedule.
Wednesday’s win was the start of a tough week-long stretch for the Demons. Golden has road games at Evergreen (7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20) and D’Evelyn (7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25).
“Evergreen is one of those sleepers,” Thistlewood said. “They can shoot lights out. That will be a big one for us.”
No. 3 Valor Christian took a 64-51 win over Evergreen (9-4, 2-2) on Wednesday night.
Golden senior Kayden Sund, middle, celebrates his second-quarter dunk with Riley Stoner, left, and Adam Thistlewood. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)