A-West, Golden, Green Mountain and Longmont advance to semis of Paul Davis Classic

LAKEWOOD — The locker room at Green Mountain High School got loud late Thursday night at the conclusion of the first day of the Paul Davis Classic.

The night ended with the host Rams taking a 74-54 victory over Boulder to give Jordan Deignan his first win as the head coach of Green Mountain’s boys basketball varsity team.

“It’s not about me, but it feels good,” said Deignan, who is a Green Mountain graduate, current teacher at the school and longtime assistant coach. “I feel real lucky and humble to be apart of this group and what these guys do. When you can pour into these guys and be apart of what they do it fulfills me. I’m just happy to be around these guys.”

Deignan stepped into the head coaching position just before the start of the season.

“It has been a crazy couple of weeks,” Deignan said. “With all the distractions that have been going on, when I get to practice these guys are a breath of fresh air. They have been unbelievable.”

The Rams — Class 5A state runner-up a year ago — got out to an unbelievable start against Boulder. Green Mountain held a 15-2 lead midway through the first quarter. Senior Jake Swanson had 10 points and junior Sam Mielenz had nine points in the first eight minutes.

“It felt great. The energy has been great,” said Mielenz, who finished with a game-high 29 points. “All the stuff that happened, all the drama, we didn’t let it get to our heads. We kept pushing through and this first game was a great win.”

Jake Swanson (14 points) and his twin brother Ben Swanson (7 points), along with senior Corbin Wade (4 points) did a great job protecting the rim defensively early on. The Panthers had just eight made field goals in the first half.

Green Mountain’s offense got a little stagnant at times, but the Rams pulled away in the fourth quarter. Senior Sean Haverkamp came off the bench to sink a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help extend the Rams’ lead to over 20 points.

“The thing that I was most proud of this group tonight is they found a different way to win a basketball game,” Deignan said. “We obviously want to play more fast paced and uptempo game, but you need to find different ways to win basketball games because teams are going to take you out of what you do best.”

Green Mountain will be joined by Longmont, along with two other Jeffco squads in Arvada West and Golden that grabbed first-round victories in the tournament that is celebrating 40 years of the Paul Davis Classic.

“Jeffco is slept on by teams,” Mielenz said of all three Jeffco squads getting victories Thursday. 

The Rams will face Longmont in the semifinal night cap Friday, Dec. 5, at Green Mountain High School. The Trojans took a 53-49 victory over Grandview on Thursday night.

The other semifinal match-up will feature Golden of the 5A/4A Jeffco League and Arvada West of the 6A Jeffco League. The Demons cruised past Highlands Ranch in the tournament opener 76-50.

“It is still early in the season. We just want to get better,” Golden senior Sam Schillie said after the 26-point victory. “We proved today that we can go out and beat those 6A teams.”

Golden (2-0 record) won its season opener Tuesday in a blowout win against Lakewood. 

Junior Nick Goodspeed led the way for the Demons against the Falcons. Goodspeed had a game-high 22 points, which included four 3-pointers. Junior Zach Orser finished with 15 points, while junior Dylan Paulson poured in a dozen points and Schillie finished with 11 points.

“We knew coming into this season that we’d have depth,” Golden coach Lou Vullo said of the Demons have four players in double-digits against Highlands Ranch. “We can plug and play a variety of guys. We are excited about that.”

Facing A-West is something that Schillie was also excited about.

“I would love to face A-West. They are a great team with great players,” Schillie said. “That would be a great challenge for us. I think we can compete with anybody out here.”

A-West won its season opener against Cherokee Trail, but it wasn’t a thing of beauty. 

“Not our best showing at all,” A-West coach Danny Vais said after the Wildcats edged Cherokee Trail 59-56. “We are glad to get it out of the way. A win in a win, but we have a lot to work on.”

Turnovers, 10 missed free throws and a handful of missed layups at the rim didn’t eventually coast the Wildcats, but it is something A-West knows it needs to correct moving forward.

“Honestly, we didn’t play good at all,” said A-West junior Cooper Vais, who lead the Wildcats with 18 points. “That isn’t who we are. Cherokee Trail set the intensity. We need to set the intensity to have a good game.”

A-West did come up clutch in the closing minutes to hold off the Cougars. Cherokee Trail took a 56-54 lead with 2:05 left in the fourth quarter, but A-West scored the final five points all on free throws to seal the win.

“All of us are rusty coming off football seasons, baseball seasons,” said Cooper Vais, who committed back in September to play baseball at the University of Texas when his high school career is over. “We’ll pick it up and get it right.”

A-West and Golden scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff Friday, Dec. 5, at Green Mountain High School. Longmont versus Green Mountain will follow around 8 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6.