TRENDING UPWARD
Skyline takes down Niwot for fifth straight win
NIWOT >> Significant change doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes, basketball can be just as much of a game of inches as football.
On Thursday night at Niwot High School, Skyline boys basketball reflected that trend in a 67-33 victory over Niwot, securing their fifth straight win since losing to Mountain View in overtime two weeks earlier.
Last year, in head coach Bob Olds’ first season with them, the Falcons only won five games in total. Now, they’re looking to put together their first winning season since 2019-20.
“We finally got the chance to believe in what we could do, and I’m so happy to be part of this team,” sophomore Diego Kheng said. “We’re really raising the bar and the expectation for Skyline. Before, in the last few years, we’ve had bad seasons, and it’s kind of become a stigma that Skyline’s not it. We’re really turning around and making people believe.”
While the basketball IQ, the shot selection and defensive pressure have certainly improved, Kheng believes the biggest difference has come off the court. The team’s ability to bond shines through in every play.
Kheng and senior Andy Erives put on a clinic against the Cougars, as the pair combined for 41 of Skyline’s points. Kheng focused his 21 from the post and the free throw line, and Erives scored from a variety of spots inside and outside the arc.
“We sit in a press all game and we love to fly around practices,” Kheng said. “We’re always conditioning, so we’re in shape, so we can press and turn them over. That’s the main key, and just running our offense so we can get good looks and be patient.”
Even though Skyline’s fullcourt press discombobulated Niwot all night, Cougars sophomore Elliot Wisecup still managed to put up 10 points, mostly from the line.
The Cougars turned to alumnus Walker Bounds as head honcho this season, and the team hopes to be in a similar position to Skyline next year, once Bounds’ coaching philosophy takes hold a bit more.
“One of the changes, I’d say, is that it’s more of a pride thing, more of a community thing,” Wisecup said. “We’ve changed our mental state a lot. As you can see from this loss, we’re still learning. We’re still improving. From here, we got to
grow that. We got to stay strong through all these hard times, and we just got to work together.
“I came from C team last year, and I swung JV, but I could tell there’s a difference just with the new coach. I can feel he’s better and he wants to win. We all just got to want that too. Sometimes, it’s not there and sometimes, it is.
We just got to find that.”
The Falcons, in stretching their five-game winning streak, also improved to 9-7 and 6-4 in the Longs Peak League and will look to keep that trend alive when they head to Severance at noon on Saturday.
Niwot, now 4-13 (1-11), will hit the road north to Thompson Valley on the same day.
The earlier girls game saw Skyline defeat Niwot with a 47-37 score after the Falcons pulled away in the fourth quarter.