Niwot ends Demons’ season

Glenwood couldn’t hold lead, gets ousted from playoffs

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Post Independent Photos Glenwood’s Kevin Screen watches as Niwot celebrates their 64-63 victory over Glenwood Tuesday night. The Demons lost in the first round of the playoffs. Kara K. Pearson | Post Independent

By Jeff Caspersen
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
February 27, 2008

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GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Sometimes playing like you have nothing to lose yields a win.

For Niwot, that strategy paid off.

Rebounding from an 11-point second-half deficit, the Cougars caught fire and stunned host Glenwood Springs, 64-63, to advance to the second round of the Class 4A boys basketball state playoffs.

In the end, 17 points from Niwot’s Jeff Roueche and a third-quarter 3-point binge by Cody Lahman — he hit three triples in a 2 minute, 7 second stretch — rallied the underdog Cougars, a No. 9 seed against the No. 8 Demons, back from their early struggles.

Glenwood surged out of the gates in this one, pushing the ball and hitting from long range to go up 19-9 after a quarter.

Two Kevin Screen 3-pointers and a triple from Connor Riley fired up a raucous home crowd that was eating up the Demons’ second first-round home playoff game in as many seasons. Screen had eight points and four assists in that first quarter, in which Glenwood shot a blistering 8-for-13 from the floor.

More perimeter accuracy propelled the Demons in the second quarter. The source: Adam Hawkins, who drained three from downtown on three tries as Glenwood maintained a 34-26 halftime lead.

“They were hitting 3s like crazy,” Roueche said. “We had to do something about that, start coming out on ‘em. They’re an excellent shooting team.”

All told, the Demons shot 14-for-24 from the floor and 6-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half. By contrast, the Cougars fired at an 11-for-29 clip in falling behind 34-26 at the break.

That would change as Niwot (10-14) quickly chipped away at Glenwood’s lead to start the second half.

After Screen drained the Demons’ sixth 3-pointer of the night to start the third, the Cougars reeled off 19 of the next 27 points to knot the game up at 45. The run included three 3-pointers from Lahman, who kept getting open looks.

“Cody had some big shots,” Niwot coach David Ross said. “He hit three out of four right in a row. That’s big. I always teach our kids that you don’t have to get it all back at once, but it’s nice when you do.”

Glenwood coach Greg Hire pinpointed that run as the turning point in the game.

“They had that one kid shooting well,” Demons coach Greg Hire said. “We just didn’t focus on staying in front of him.”

The teams traded blows until the final buzzer.

Glenwood’s Jordan Ciani, Donnie Jennert and Screen had big 3-pointers and Niwot’s Jeff Roueche had seven points as the teams exchanged the lead 10 times in the fourth quarter.

A layup by Roueche on a give-and-go from Lahman proved to be the winning bucket.
The Demons had a chance to win it in the final seconds, inbounding the ball from inside halfcourt with 10 seconds remaining.

The Demons’ hopes at staving off elimination ended as Screen and Adam Hawkins misfired on heavily contested long-range shots in the final seconds, triggering a wild celebration by Niwot’s players.

“We’re very fortunate,” Ross said. “That’s a good team. Obviously, we’re excited to get out of here with a win. Their coach does a great job. Their kids are very disciplined.”

Lahman followed Roueche’s team-high output with 12 points — all on 3-pointers — while Connor Kloepfer chipped in with 10 points for Niwot, which moves on to face Abraham Lincoln High School, the top seed in the Guy Gibbs Region, in the second round of the playoffs.

Screen topped all Glenwood scorers with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He also had seven assists and five rebounds. Jennert added nine points and seven boards. Hawkins chipped in with nine points, Dakota Stonehouse eight and Jordan Ciani seven.

“End-of-season talks are always tough,” said Hire, whose team finished up the season with a 15-7 record. “I thought our kids did a very nice job this year.”