Golden boys basketball in must-win mode

BY DENNIS PLEUSS JEFFCO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

DENVER — e RPI numbers don’t lie and Golden’s boys basketball coach Lou Vullo knows it.

“We talked before the game that from this game forward every game is a playo game,” Vullo said as his Demons started the day No. 40 in the Class 5A boys basketball RPI rankings. “ is was a must-win game for us.”

With league champions and the RPI determining the 32-team eld for the 5A state tournament, the Demons (711, 4-3 in 5A/4A Je co League) know winning their nal ve regular-season games in almost a necessity to make the postseason.

Golden responded with a 62-49 road victory Feb. 4 against D’Evelyn (11-7, 7-1). e Demons handed the Jaguars their rst conference loss of the season and put an end to D’Evelyn’s 6-game winning streak.

“For sure,” Golden junior Shad Garnett said when asked if this was the Demons’ biggest win of the season. “It was nice.”

It was nice for the Demons to have its full line-up available for the rst time this season. Starting point-guard Luc Chevalier and post Laif Palmer have both missed the majority of the season coming o injuries that occurred right before the season.

Both were back in the starting lineup Saturday. Chevalier played solid defense guarding the Jaguars’ premier shooters, while Palmer helped close out the win scoring all 8 points in the fourth quarter.

“It has helped a ton,” Garnett said having both Chevalier and Palmer back. “Chevy creates a lot of shots for us. Laif is big and strong. Grabbing boards for us. It is awesome to have them both back.”

Junior Slade Pike led the Demons with 14 points o the bench. Garnett poured in 13 points. Golden had nine 3-pointers and were stellar from the free-throw line going 15-for-16 from the charity stripe.

On the other hand, the Jaguars didn’t make a 3-pointer the entire game and were 15-for-32 from the free-throw line.

“We had to do three things to win this game: defend, rebound and value