LAKEWOOD — The long wait is over.
Standley Lake High School has its first boys basketball league title in the school’s history. The Gators defeated Green Mountain 50-44 in the winner-take-all game Monday night at Green Mountain High School.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Standley Lake junior Titus Schrecengost said of the history making night for the school that opened in 1988. “There are a lot of people that came before us to lay the groundwork for us. It’s just really special that we could do it for all those people.”
Standley Lake (15-7, 8-0 in Class 5A/4A Jeffco League) came close a year ago, but couldn’t get past three-time defending conference champion Dakota Ridge.
“It’s amazing. We’ve had our eyes on it since I’ve been here,” Standley Lake junior Asher Serlen said. “The guys came together. We are just stoked.”
This season, the Gators were on a mission to grab that elusive league title.
“It’s a special thing. I’m super proud of the kids,” Standley Lake coach Tyson Schrecengost said. “Hats off to Green Mountain. They are an amazing program with a lot of great athletes. I’m super proud of our kids for doing what they needed to do to allow us to come out on top when the buzzer sounded.”
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
Green Mountain (18-5, 8-1) looked to be in control early on the way to the Rams’ first boys basketball league title since the 2007-08 season. Junior Sam Mielenz’s 3-pointer with 6:51 left in the second quarter gave the Rams a 24-8 lead in front of a near capacity crowd at Green Mountain High School.
However, after Mienlez’s 3-pointer the Rams scored only 20 points for the remainder of the game. It was the lowest scoring output by the Rams to an in-state team this season and the loss ended Green Mountain’s 12-game winning steak.
“Our defense was phenomenal,” Coach Schrecengost said of the Gators holding the Rams to 13 points in the second half.
Mielenz was the lone Ram in double-digit points with his game-high 21 points on seven made 3-pointers.
While the Gators really only played their five starters the entire game, juniors Serlen (19 points), Gage Pommer (11 points), along with senior Vaughn Locke (17 points) carried the scoring load.
“Asher played an amazing game inside and outside. Vaughn Locke played a really good game as well,” Coach Schrecengost said. “Gage coming up with free throws and a couple of big shots. I’m just super proud of those five guys.”
Standley Lake took the lead for good midway through the fourth quarter. Schrencengost made his first and only 3-pointer of the night to put the Gators ahead 45-43 with 3:40 left in the game. Green Mountain never regained the lead.
“It’s just confidence with everyone and everybody was giving me confidence throughout the season,” Schrecengost said of his one made field goal of the night that was the biggest shot of the game. “We knew if we all came together it would fall for us.”
Coach Schrecengost has confidence that his son would come up big down the stretch.
“He was due,” Coach Schrecengost said of his son’s 3-pointer that gave Standley Lake its first lead since the first quarter. “I had a pretty good feeling he was going to hit that one.”
Standley Lake still has one regular-season and league game remaining at home against Golden (17-5, 6-2) on Wednesday night. Not matter if Standley Lake loses to Golden, the Gators will have the head-to-head tiebreaker against Green Mountain.
Still, Standley Lake wants to finish off the regular season in style.
“Every win is important going into playoffs,” Schrecengost said. “We have high goals for win counts. Prefect in league would be awesome too.”
After the victory, Standley Lake is No. 21 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index. Green Mountain (No. 10) and Golden (No. 18) are actually higher than the newly crowed league champs.
Green Mountain completed its regular season with the loss. However, the Rams returned almost everyone from its 2025 state runner-up team that made it all the way to the 5A state title game a season ago at the No. 16 seed.
Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
