BOULDER — Senior Jack Burgesser has been a member of the Broomfield boys basketball team long enough to remember how frustrating it was to win a combined 12 games over the past two seasons.
That’s why Burgesser has every right to be excited about the way the Eagles have started out the 2015-16 campaign. The Eagles took another step forward on Friday night, defeating the area rival Fairview Knights 74-48 to take third place in the Fairview Festival tournament and push their early record to 3-1.
“We just wanted to come out playing fast right from the beginning and I think we did that,” Burgesser said. “We got on the boards right away and started playing defense right away in the first quarter. So far it’s been a change from the past two years for sure.”
The Eagles (3-1) were tough defensively from the start, holding the Knights (2-4) to five points in the first quarter and seven in the second. Offensively, 11 different Eagles scored and three reached double figures. Burgesser and senior teammate Nate Lehnerz led the Eagles with 13 points apiece. Junior guard Sam Foster scored 10.
“I thought we did a good job of playing together offensively,” Eagles head coach Terrence Dunn said. “We’ve done a pretty good job on defense so far and for these seniors, we talked about it being their last game at Fairview High School so they wanted to play well.”
Without 6-foot-10 center and University of San Diego commit Frank Ryder, who missed Friday’s game with an illness, the Knights struggled to get their offense going. Senior guard Chris Weatherly, however, caught fire in the second half and finished with a game-high 30 points. He made eight 3-pointers and went 5-for-5 at the foul line.
“We were without the big guy and we haven’t played many games without him so obviously our offense looked a little different,” Knights head coach Patrick Burke said. “We started to face a little bit of adversity and didn’t handle it well. We rushed and didn’t defend particularly well and when you don’t make second and third efforts, it’s hard to win games at the varsity level.”
The Eagles will play in the Prairie View Thunderhawks Hoopsfest next week, opening the tournament against Northglenn on Monday.
“Hopefully we can get the win up there and improve to 6-1,” Burgesser said.
Fairview’s last game before the holiday break will be at Thornton next Friday.
Brad Cochi: cochib@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/BradCochi
Broomfield 74, Fairview 48
At Fairview H.S.
BROOMFIELD (3-1)
Croell 1 2-2 4, Briggs 1 0-0 2, Foster 2 5-5 10, Wristen 1 0-0 2, Rynearson 5 0-1 10, Lehnerz 4 2-3 13, Burgesser 5 0-0 13, Volk 1 0-0 3, Georgiton 3 1-1 7, Keeler 1 0-0 2, Garner 0 0-0 0, Martinez 4 0-0 8. Totals 26 10-12 74.
FAIRVIEW (2-4)
Heisner 1 3-4 5, Carson 1 0-0 2, Khadem 0 0-1 0, Weatherly 8 6-6 30, Grad 2 0-0 2, Whittle 0 0-0 0, Mooz 0 0-0 0, Tyse 1 0-0 2, Kaufman 0 5-6 5, Pykkonen 0 0-0 0, Christiansen 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 14-17 48.
Score by quarters:
Broomfield (3-1)
13
28
21
12
—
74
Fairview (2-4)
5
7
13
23
—
48
3-point field goals —
Broomfield (8): Burgesser 3, Lehnerz 3, Volk, Foster; Fairview (8): Weatherly 8. Total fouls —
Broomfield 16, Fairview 15.
