D’Evelyn boys lockdown defensively against DSST: Montview

DENVER — Having all hands on deck made a huge difference for D’Evelyn’s boys basketball team Wednesday night.

After fighting illness and injuries over the first few weeks of the regular season the Jaguars were at 100 percent in a good Class 4A non-league match-up against DSST: Montview (5-2 record).

“These kids are locking in,” D’Evelyn coach Will Gosch said after the Jaguars’ impressive 62-45 home victory over the Knights. “These kids are getting in shape and coming around for us.”

D’Evelyn (4-3) had it going defensively, limiting Montview to just eight field goals through the first three quarters. The Jaguars climbed to a 49-25 lead heading to the final quarter.

The defense showed up strong for the second straight night. The Jaguars ended a 3-game losing streak with a big 67-44 victory the night before on the road against The Academy.

“I think we’ve played great defense both nights,” D’Evelyn senior Elijah Gusmus said of the back-to-back wins for the Jaguars holding The Academy and Montview under 50 points on back-to-back nights. “We switched up our defense throughout the night and scouted the teams. We were ready for both games.”

Gusmus poured in a game-high 26 points, including three 3-pointers in the first half to open up a comfortable 34-15 halftime lead. The Jaguars came out with good energy despite playing back-to-back nights.

“It’s tiring. I’m so tired,” Gusman admitted. “We got through that, so we’re happy.”

Gosch was happy with another win to get over the .500 mark. D’Evelyn’s starting five — Gusmus, Kellen Olson, Taj Kumar, Max Monroe and Nick Vacanti — combined to score 54 points.

“We are really well conditioned now,” Gusmus said about a good week of practice with six days between games to start this week stretch of three games in four days.

D’Evelyn is back in action with another home game Friday night against Faith Christian. The Eagles (4-0) are undefeated with all of their victories by double-digit points.

“Faith is a really good team. Montview beat CA (Colorado Academy) and we lost to CA,” Gusman said. “This is a nice win.”

Sophomore Harun Hamma led the scoring for the Knights with 9 points off the bench.

DSST: Montview has more than a 3-week break now between games. The Knights don’t return to the court until a home game against Lake County after the New Year on Jan. 7.

D’Evelyn has played a tough non-league schedule. The 3-game losing streak included losses to 5A’s No. 4 Lewis-Palmer and 4A’s No. 2 Holy Family.

The Jaguars will play in the combined 5A/4A Jeffco League once conference play begins after Winter Break. D’Evelyn had a nice run to the Sweet 16 of the 4A state tournament before losing to eventual semifinalist Frederick 67-65.

“There are a lot of great teams there that we are learning about,” Gosch said of the 4A classification where Frederick is currently ranked No. 1 in the CHSAANow.com 4A boys basketball poll. “It’s a fun part of the process and this new alignment.”