Niwot boys basketball falls twice dropping to 4-6 on the season

The Niwot High School boy's basketball team had two matchups this week, one against the Thompson Valley Eagles, and the other against the Frederick Golden Eagles. The first of the two games was against Thompson Valley on Tuesday, where Niwot failed to generate offense, losing 68-52. The second game landed on Thursday where Niwot struggled to get past Fredrick, losing 80-55.

In the matchup between Niwot and Thompson Valley, the Cougars started off cold, giving up a 13-point run at the beginning of the game, resulting in Niwot being down 23-11 at the end of the first quarter. Niwot scored 41 points in the next three quarters while the Eagles notched 45 of their own. The Cougars would have definitely made it a game if not for the slow start, but a playoff spot will require winning some of those closer games.

The absence of Jerek Funkhouser at Thompson Valley due to illness meant Niwot needed to look elsewhere for offensive production. Jack Jarvis’s 15 points and Jackson Carano’s 14 points led the team, with Julian Lettow notching a 10-point game. Carano almost got his first double-double of the season, picking up a team-leading nine rebounds, seconded by Julian Lettow’s four. Lettow also netted a team-leading four assists, with Alexander Long, Zachary Dawson, and Drew Stapp each grabbing two assists for themselves. The Cougars’ seven steals and one block couldn't make up for their 18 turnovers, giving Niwot a stat to look back and improve upon.

In Thursday's game against the Golden Eagles, the Cougars lacked overall production. Unlike the previous matchup, the loss can't be summed up by a single quarter. Niwot fell slightly short across the board, but without their top scorer playing his usual minutes, an outcome like this was nothing to look down upon.

Lettow was Niwot’s top scorer against Frederick, netting 12 points while Funkhouser was able to put up 10 points while playing only seven minutes. Lettow also put up a significant number in rebounds, almost getting his first double-double of the season, picking up seven rebounds alongside Zachary Dawson, in a season-high 37-rebound game, doubling their former average rebounds-per-game. Jarvis notched five assists, with Stapp and Dawson getting three each.

Niwot had seven steals and four blocks, but the turnovers hurt them again, as the Cougars turned it over 32 times.

Niwot’s production has been inconsistent this season. Defensively, the team has played well, allowing 59.6 points per game at the midpoint of the season, but their 55.1 points per game offense output are far behind the league average of 63.1 points per game. It isn’t just the points that illustrate this offense versus defense struggle. Niwot’s 7.7 offensive rebounds per game is a step below the league's 11.5 average, while Niwot’s 20.7 defensive rebounds is up there with the league's 21.5 average.

The season is still alive for the Cougars, but they will have to fix their turnover problem if they want to make the playoffs. Now halfway through the season, Niwot can definitely turn into a dark horse team and have some exciting games ahead of them.