Golden boys hoops knocks off the rust versus Aurora Central

GOLDEN — With five straight road games on the horizon, Golden boys basketball team knew coming away with a victory Friday night was pretty important.

“It felt like we really needed some action. We were a little bit slow,” Golden senior Leif Hansen said about the tightly contested non-league game against Aurora Central at Golden High School. “I felt like I just had to do my thing. Do whatever was needed for us to get the win.”

What Hansen did was score the Demons’ first nine points in the fourth quarter to help propel Golden to a 51-46 home victory over the Trojans. Hansen finished with 18 points on the night.

“He is the team leader and he did take over,” Golden coach Lou Vullo said after the Demons improved their record to 6-4 on the season.

Hansen was able to outduel Aurora Central junior Alex Flores, who scored a game-high 22 points for the Trojans. Flores had 10 points in the fourth quarter to help cut Golden’s lead down to as few as 2 points.

Golden’s 6-foot-5 senior had a key driving layup with 1:44 left in the game to push the Demons’ lead to 47-43. Sophomore Dylan Paulson went 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute to seal the victory for the Demons.

Paulson finished with a dozen points. Sophomore Zach Order had 8 points and senior Aidan Owens had 5 points for the Demons in their third win over the past four games.

“We were a little rusty coming out of that break. We haven’t played a game in a while,” Vullo said of the Demons struggling at times offensively after not playing since Dec. 21. “To me, that was the reason.”

Aurora Central (4-7) had a 12-10 lead after the first quarter, but the Demons were able to grab the win before road games against Pueblo South, Summit, Thomas Jefferson, Pomona and Evergreen over the next two weeks.

“It will definitely be difficult,” Vullo said of the stretch of five straight road games. “We knew going in that we had a brutal schedule. We set it up like that every year. Hopefully it helps us in the long run.”

Golden opens up Class 5A/4A Jeffco League play at Pomona on Jan. 22. The Demons finally return home for a non-league game against Columbine on Jan. 27.

“I think our team is going to go up from here,” Hansen said of the league schedule starting up in a week. “We are really going to come together as a team. I feel like if we play our best we can challenge anyone.”