Fort Collins boys basketball edges Green Mountain at Ball Arena

DENVER — It was too much Jayce King and Marcus Burkett for Green Mountain’s boys basketball team to handle Monday afternoon at Ball Arena.

King and Burkett combined for 51 points for Fort Collins to propel the Lambkins to a 64-57 victory before the Dallas Mavericks and defending NBA champions Denver Nuggets took to the court.

“He (King) is special. No doubt about it,” Green Mountain coach Mike Puccio said of King — Lambkins’ leading scorer — who is averaging 30 points per game. “He is the focal point obviously and he is really good. We had some missed assignments on him for sure.”

King finished with a game-high 29 points. Burkett had an incredible second quarter with 14 points before finishing with 22 points. Fort Collins improved to a 4-3 record on the season with its third straight victory.

“Green Mountain is a good team and went on some runs, but so did we,” King said. “At the end of the day we come out with the win because I think we worked harder.”

The Rams closed within 50-46 early in the fourth quarter, but King had a pair of 3-point plays to push the lead to 56-46 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter. The senior guard also finished a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.

King, Burkett and senior Jackson Folkestad (7 points) combined for 58 of the Lambkins’ 64 points. 

“It is defintely something we need to work on,” King said the scoring carried by himself, Burkett and Folkestad. “I think we have so much trust in each other and the family bond will get us wins.”

Green Mountain has lost 5 of 6 games since its opening-season victory against Centaurus.

“I think our guys are playing really hard,” Puccio said of his Rams (2-6 record). “We are still not making some plays.”

A positive recently for the Rams is the return of junior Simon Lunsford who missed the start of the season with an injury. Monday’s game at Ball Arena was his second game back on the court and he finished with a game-high 13 points.

“He (Lunsford) is still rusty, but it’s good to have him back,” Puccio said on the 6-foot-1 junior. “It was a long hiatus for him. He’ll defintely help.”

Senior Austin Beeson had 11 points, while senior Amber Dowdell had 9 points and sophomore Jake Swanson had 8 points off the bench. Green Mountain struggled from the free-throw line going 7-for-22. 

Green Mountain has one final game before Winter Break. The Rams host Chatfield at 7:30 pm Wednesday, Dec. 20, at Green Mountain High School. 

The Chargers actually played at Ball Arena before the Rams’ game Monday. Chatfield (2-7 record) suffered a 62-59 loss to Legend.

“For a senior-heavy group to be struggling to win games, we’ve got to figure something out,” Puccio said heading into Wednesday’s home game against Chatfield. “We are struggling right now.”