Niwot falls to 5-15 ahead of the final week of season

In the penultimate week of the Niwot High School boys basketball season, Niwot battled both the Frederick High School Golden Eagles on Tuesday, Feb. 7 and the Mountain View High School Mountain Lions on Thursday, Feb. 9. Niwot lost both games, 70-48 and 61-50 respectively.

Now, 5-15 on the season, the Cougars have two more games left, trying to end the season on a higher note.

Against the Golden Eagles, Niwot started strong, down only 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. Things quickly fell out of control in the second period as the Cougars were outscored 13-6, putting Niwot down by 11 at the half, 30-19. While Niwot did compete in the second half, they were again outscored by 11 points, leading to a 70-48 loss to the Golden Eagles.

Jerek Funkhouser and Jackson Carnano lead the way for Niwot, both netting 16 points each, with Jack Jarvis's eight points factoring in as well. Zachary Dawson's four assists and Jarvis's three were most of the team's 13 assists.

Carnano's eight rebounds, and Funkhouser's six totalled almost half of the team's 31 total boards. Funkhouser, Carnano, and Drew Stapp took two steals each, while Mateusz Swat earned Niwot's only block. Niwot shot 33 percent as a team, shooting 25 percent from behind the arc, and 86 percent from the free throw line.

But the story of the game was the difference in turnovers, with the Cougars turning the ball over at the rate of almost one a minute (31) compared to only 11 for Frederick.

Niwot faced Mountain View on Thursday and played neck and neck with the Mountain Lions up until the fourth quarter. The first quarter ended with the score tied at 16-16, while the score at the first half ended at 33-32, with Niwot down by a point.

Both teams played evenly in the third quarter with nine points scored by each team. Niwot again scored nine in the fourth quarter, but Mountain View's 19 points in the final quarter led to the 61-50 loss.

Funkhouser led the team with 12 points, while Carnano's 10, Stapp's six, and Julian Lettow's six were the bulk of Niwot's scoring. Jarvis's five assists led the team, with Stapp, Lettow, Drew Buckingham, Carnano, and Funkhouser obtaining two assists each.

Funkhouser's six assists led Niwot's 19, alongside Lettow and Carnano's four. Jarvis and Funkhouser both grabbed two steals each, and Drew Buckingham secured Niwot's lone block. Niwot shot 42 percent from the field, shooting an outstanding 38 percent from beyond the arc, and a reasonable 71 percent from the line, but the defense could not hold Mountain View in the end. Niwot lowered its turnovers to 19, but Mountain View's 10 turnovers was almost half as many as Niwot's, and in the end, the deficit was too much to overcome.