Paul Davis Classic tips off at Green Mountain High School

LAKEWOOD — Boys basketball coaches from Arvada West and Green Mountain had very similar goals as the annual Paul Davis Classic got underway Thursday night at Green Mountain High School.

“Just to get that nastiness,” A-West coach Danny Vais said of his main goal during the 3-day tournament. “We have an MO with the way we want to play. I think trying to set that pace is harder than people think because it might look chaotic and crazy out there, but we are actually really controlled with what we are trying to do. There is a method to the madness.”

A-West won the first of four games Thursday with a 87-55 victory over Cherokee Trail. The Wildcats will face Highlands Ranch in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday back at Green Mountain High School.

The host Rams also punched their ticket to stay on the winner’s side of the bracket. Green Mountain defeated Boulder in the final game of the night with a 74-59 victory. The Rams will play Grandview in the other semifinal scheduled for an 8 p.m. tipoff Friday night.

“Just to compete,” Green Mountain coach Mike Puccio said of his main goal during the Rams’ annual tournament that honors former Green Mountain basketball coach Paul Davis. “I just want us to fight. Let’s establish who we are being tough and physical.”

A-West turned on its defensive pressure in the second half to score 29 points in the third quarter to get out to a commanding 61-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter against Cherokee Trail. By midway through the fourth quarter, the Wildcats had five players — Keegen Balistrari, Cooper Vais, Jordan Stremel, Mason Lusche and Noah Meurer — all in double-digit points.

“Coach Vais has been emphasizing that we have six or seven dudes who can lead us in scoring every night,” said Stremel, who finished with 15 points. “It doesn’t matter who we are playing. We can have six or seven guys in double-figures every night.”

The Wildcats scored 55 points in the second half on the way to the 32-point victory.

“The crazy thing about it is we put up 87 points and I don’t think we participially shot the ball very well,” Coach Vais said. “We want to get teams to play at our pace and it suits our team really, really well. We wear on teams.”

A-West returns four of its top five scorers from last year’s team that had a solid 17-8 record and 8-4 mark in Class 6A Jeffco.

“We weren’t top-10 in the preseason CHSAA rankings,” Stremel said. “I think we can shock a lot of people this year. People are going to have problems playing at our pace.”

Green Mountain was planning on having its second leading scorer back this season in senior Simon Lunsford. However, the 3-sport athlete suffered a lower leg injury in the Rams’ state quarterfinal football game that required surgery. The senior forward who has already signed to play baseball at Mesa State University will likely miss the majority, if not all of the basketball season.

“A lot. The whole script,” Puccio said of what the Rams have had to change since the loss of Lunsford who averaged a dozen points per game last season. “It is next man up, don’t get it twisted. We are ready. Our guys have worked hard for this moment. Roles change a little bit. Simon is special and still a part of this. It’s nice to have him still here with his leadership.”

Junior guard Trey Gutierrez will be the most experienced varsity player for the Rams this season, but the Swanson twins — juniors Ben and Jake — should provide some good production from Green Mountain’s junior class.

Sophomore Sam Mielenz has already made an early splash pouring in a team-high 23 points in the win late Thursday night over Boulder.

“He is 2-for-2,” Puccio said of Mielenz. “He had 30 points in our Foundation Game (scrimmage) against Bear Creek and he follows that up with 23 tonight. Not bad at all.”

Mielenz got limited varsity minutes as a freshman last season.

“When Simon when out with that injury we all had to have a bigger part and bigger role,” Mielenz said. “We have all stepped up and played our role. My teammates are amazing.”

The Swanson twins combined for 29 points and Gutierrez had a solid second half to finish with 11 points.

“We’ve got shooters. We’ve got slashers,” Mielenz said of the Rams’ team that did graduate a number of key seniors last year. “We’ve got everything. We are a solid squad.” 

Golden (1-1 record) was coming off a nice season-opening victory on Tuesday on the road against Lakewood. Senior Leif Hansen had a monster opening quarter with 14 points against Highlands Ranch, but the Falcons eventually grabbed a 74-50 victory.

The Demons will face Cherokee Trail at 3:30 p.m. Friday back at Green Mountain High School in a consolation semifinal. The other consolation semifinal will feature Longmont versus Boulder at 5 p.m.