Golden boys hoops holds off tough Pueblo South squad in non-league action

GOLDEN — Coach Lou Vullo was a little concerned that his Golden Demons boys basketball team would cool off over the Winter Break, but that hasn’t been the case.

Golden extended its winning streak to seven games Tuesday night with a 75-70 home victory over Pueblo South. It was the second victory after the 19-day break from games during the holidays.

“What worries me always is that break,” Vullo said. “We were popping on some good cylinders before the Christmas Break. I think we have come out in this second part of the season and got that momentum there as well.”

Pueblo South sophomore J’rell Williams nearly single-handedly stole the momentum Golden (9-2 record) has built single back-to-back losses Dec. 5 and 6 at the Paul Davis Classic to Class 6A teams Arvada West and Grandview. The sophomore scored a career-high 37 points for the Colts (6-4).

“I think in the future we’ll have a better game plan for players like that,” Golden junior Zach Orser said of Williams having a career night. “Great players like that are always going to find a way to score no matter what. He is super talented.”

Vullo adjusted his strategy on Williams a few times. The sophomore had just five points in the third quarter, but after Orser got in foul trouble it was freshman Luke Miller who got the assignment to try to contain Williams.

“I thought he (Miller) did a pretty good job of keeping him in front of him,” Vullo said.

Williams made a living at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter going 8-for-9 from the line to score 14 points in the final frame. Pueblo South cut Golden’s lead to 2 points a handful of times in the fourth quarter, but Golden junior Nick Goodspeed and Orser both made a key 3-pointer each for the Demons to never allow Pueblo South to take the lead in the fourth quarter.

“We have four really good players that start for us,” Orser said referring to himself, fellow juniors Dylan Paulson, Goodspeed and senior Sam Schillie. “If you take out one of us we still have three more. Me and Nick are the shooters and feed off each other’s energy.”

Goodspeed had a team-high 23 points. Orser finished with 21 points to pace the Demons. Paulson finished with 9 points, but was important in the final minutes going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to help Golden put the game away.

Schillie finished with 10 points, above his season average, and Miller had 8 points off the bench.

“This was a huge one for us,” said Orser, who scored 20-plus points for the third time in Golden’s past four games. “This was a great (Class 5A) match-up.”

After Tuesday’s game, Golden is No. 12 in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index. Pueblo South is No. 17.

The Demons have home games against Summit (Thursday) and Thomas Jefferson (Saturday) before starting their 5A/4A Jeffco League play. Golden hosts Pomona (Jan. 21) and Evergreen (Jan. 23) to close out a 5-game home stand.

“We are finally at home after a month of just away games and traveling,” Orser said.

Golden is already closing in on its 14 wins from a season ago. The Demons also hope to improve on their 5th-place finish in the conference from last season.

“I told the kids even before this game that we are a good team, but we aren’t a great team yet,” Vullo said. “There is a lot of things we need to work on to become a great team. We’ll build off games like this.”