Fort Lupton Press 9
June 2, 2022
Fort Lupton’s Moll opts for basketball in Florida BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
There aren’t many people who can say they are thankful for anything to do with the pandemic. Fort Lupton’s Conner Moll can. t “The pandemic closed a lot of -gyms. I had to find parks and stuff to go to,” Moll said. “It messed up the recruiting process. A lot of colleges were like, ‘We love you. We don’t have the money for it.’ It played a huge part. At the end of the day, everything happens for a reason. “I’m grateful for COVID now,” he added. “It was a hard few years. It really helped me out.” Moll signed a collegiate letter of intent May 26 to play basketball and study business entrepreneurship at Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Honestly, I had no idea about it until my mom found it,” Moll said. “I was sending emails out. I was trying to do anything to find a school. My mom was like, ‘Go to Duke University,’ things like that. I was like, ‘Let’s be realistic here.’” Moll went to a Keiser-sponsored camp at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood. “I was actually hoping to be signed by Colorado Christian so I can stay in state,” he said. “But I met the coach. You could tell he
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was watching for me. I thought this might be the place. He definitely did his work and tried to make it possible so I could go there. It showed me he wanted me. It wasn’t an athlete for him to sign.” Moll and his mother took a campus visit. “He took care of my mom and I very carefully,” Moll said. “We did a lot of stuff besides looking at the basketball side and the academic side. It sealed the deal when we went out there. I was looking at two others. It was basically no contest after I found this one.” Outgoing athletic director Cora Lanter called Moll “a real student and an athlete.” “I saw a positive person in the hall,” she said. “He never found his way to the office for anything. That’s tough to do as a senior, to maintain that poise.” FLHS boys basketball coach Jim Roedel called Moll “a leader who has the ability to do anything you want.” “You have friends who care about you. You have a school here that will help you,” Roedel said. “For you to come here, in a town this size and accomplish what you did here? I am proud of you.” Moll wants to start a clothing business this summer. The eventual goal is to own his own business with his own style of clothing.
Fort Lupton’s Conner Moll puts pen to paper May 26 and signs his letter of intent for PHOTO BY STEVE SMITH college basketball and business studies at Keiser University.
“I am not big on Colorado. I love it because it’s my home. And I love Fort Lupton, and it will always be home,” Moll said. “But I’ve wanted to move to a bigger city. I don’t like the weather here. It’s nice in the Sunshine State. I love the humidity, too. My parents hate it. Right now, it’s looking like my new home.” “You are a great athlete, and you have amazing parents,” said outgo-
ing FLHS Principal John Biner. “Nobody sits where you are sitting by yourself. You are great in the hallways, and you are fantastic to watch playing basketball.” “I haven’t been nervous or scared. I’ve done everything I can to prepare myself for this moment,” Moll said. “It feels like more of an accomplishment and a pat on my back to myself for all the hard work I’ve put in.”
Frederick’s Justice getting his work in ... and loving it Basketball standout will play the sport year round with eye on state title BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
FREDERICK -- It’s been just about two months since Frederick High School’s boys basketball team finished its first appearance in the Final Four since 1956. But Luke Justice isn’t wasting time. The soon-to-be Frederick senior is playing on a traveling AAU team plus a high school club team this summer. He has some goals in mind — a player of the year honor, a state title next winter, to be the best teammate possible and a spot on a college roster in a year’s time. His interest in basketball started at the age of 3, and it was his mother who pushed him in that direction. “She had offers in college for basketball and soccer, but she was really big on basketball,” Justice said. “She wanted me to play, and she taught me everything. My dad wanted me to play, too, so I have to thank my mom and dad.” Justice said basketball wasn’t his best sport at first. “I was actually a better baseball player (he was a pitcher) than I was a basketball player,” Justice said. “I miss baseball. When I was 12 years old, I was in the state champion-
Year-round participation Like a lot of high school players in his sport and others, basketball is a year-round sport for Justice. “I miss the fun activities,” Justice said. “I always enjoy watching football. I wanted to play it at one time. I miss out on the activities like summer time when everyone is in the pool or hanging out. “I feel like it’s always worth it,” he said. “Basketball is my first love.”
play and AAU play. “Around AAU time, that’s where I work with my coaches and a trainer,” Justice said. “I work on my skills, see what I can do with the ball, pick and roll. It’s more of a one-on-one type thing. When it goes to high school, it has to be a team effort. In AAU, you put five guys out there, and it’s skill basis. In high school, you can be upset by a team that gels. “My AAU coach, Coach (Brandon) Brown (the new coach at Cherokee Trail High School), has done really well with me,” Justice added. “He’s given us the idea of treating this like a high school game. If you can play defense, you can win. Practices are more like one-on-one. It’s very competitive.”
Wanting to improve on a good season FHS was 21-5 this season and won the class 4A Longs Peak League title. For his part, Justice averaged 13 points a game and sank a pair of key 3-pointers in a playoff win over Mead. “Coach (Jeff) Conway has already told us that we were an unknown coming into this (recent) season — that no one expected us to be good (FHS hadn’t won a playoff game since 2012),” Justice said. “Because they know we were in the Final Four, every team is going to be giving us their best effort. We’ve got a bullseye on our back.” There are some differences between high school play, club team
In closing Justice earned all-state honorable mention this year and a first-team, all-conference citation. He thinks the Warriors will be a solid team next season, even though they have to find replacements for Alex Sturn, the coach’s son, Jacoby Conway and Bryce Conover. “When I go to a park and see kids play, it makes me happy,” Justice said. “Basketball is such an important sport. It gives people opportunities, maybe make a future out of it. It makes me want to play even more.” There was a time when Justice didn’t want to continue, though. “I came home from my first prac-
ship in Maryland before I moved out here. I threw my arm out in the middle of the game. We ended up going to a doctor, and he said if I continued pitching, I was going to tear a ligament. I would have had to get surgery, so I had to quit playing baseball.”
Luke Justice
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tice. I was making mistakes, turning the ball over. I came home, crying, and I told her I didn’t want to play any more,” he said. “My mom said, ‘There’s no reason to cry.’ She took me back outside after practice. We shot around for another hour and a half. She told me to never give up. “I always thank my mom for that.”
