Green Mountain’s Trey Towndrow (12) has a shot contested by Centaurus juniors Nate Totel and Nick Vaver. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Centaurus put a damper on Green Mountain’s home opener on the boys basketball court late Thursday night.
The Warriors defeated the Rams 53-42 in the opening round of Green Mountain’s annual Paul Davis Classic. It was also the home debut for Rams’ new coach Mike Puccio, who graduated from Green Mountain in 2000.
“I feel since it was our first home game we were a little tense. A little nervous,” Green Mountain senior Alex Telles said. “We just didn’t shoot good, plain and simple.”
Centaurus held Green Mountain to just 14 free goals. The Warriors (2-1 record) went on a key 9-0 run after the Rams cut the Centaurus lead to 40-39 with a bucket from senior Lucas Rosen with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter.
Junior Nick Vaver led the way for the Warriors. He went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line and hit a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. He finished with a team-high 13 points.
Green Mountain senior Alex Telles spots up from 3-point range. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“This was a good test for us. We were down a couple of our guys,” said Centaurus coach Travis Maron, who only suited only eight players in the win. “I always want to see how we respond when the ball doesn’t bounce our way. We found a way down the stretch tonight.”
Juniors Joe Lynch (12 points) and Quinn Rubin (10 points), along with senior Ian McGuire (8 points) gave the Warriors a nice balanced scoring attack that Maron said he is looking for all season.
Centaurus faces Rifle in the semifinals of the tournament at 8 p.m. Friday at Green Mountain High School.
“There are good teams here,” Maron said. “Big physical teams. It’s fun to be down here.”
It’s nearly a completely different look for Green Mountain from its 10-14 season last year. The Rams graduated eight seniors. Telles and Rosen are the only two returning varsity players for Green Mountain.
“We need to think about the loss, but we also need to forget about it,” Telles said, pointing out the Rams play five games in the next two weeks. “This loss won’t define us.”
Green Mountain (2-1) is back on its home court Friday at 5 p.m. against Denver West in the consolation semifinals. The Rams got off to a 2-0 start to the season with wins over Pueblo Centennial and Prairie View to start the Puccio-era at Green Mountain.
Green Mountain coach Mike Puccio takes over his alma mater this season. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Puccio played at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling and finished his playing career in 2005 playing at Colorado State University-Pueblo.
He started his coaching career in 2002 for the Colorado Chaos club basketball program. Puccio also served as an assistant coach under John Anderson at Golden High School and was the junior varsity coach at Green Mountain during the 2006-07 season when Rudy Martin was the Rams’ varsity coach.
Puccio spent one year as an assistant coach for Standley Lake’s boys basketball program before taking over the head varsity job with the Gators for nearly a decade.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Puccio said as he takes over his alma mater. “We have a lot of great kids. They work hard. We just have to get better.”
Telles (13 points) was the lone Ram to reach double-digits in the loss to Centaurus. Seniors Nate Davis (9 points) and Rosen (7 points) were the next leading scorers for the Green Mountain.
“The goal is always to hang a league banner,” Puccio said of his goals in his first year back with the Rams. “That might seem crazy with only two returning varsity players, but that is our mentality. We expect to compete and win.”
Centaurus junior Maliek Swain (23) goes up strong against Green Mountain senior Doal Dhieu on Thursday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)