Dismal openers for Eagles boys

By Clara Aucoin
Gilpin County News Senior Writer

The Eagles opened their season with three games in five days, with schedule changes and long trips all part of the process.  Of the games, at Merino, where the Eagles lost 24-49 and at Christian Fellowship, where the Eagles lost 27-68, the only game that was competitive was the game at home against neighbor Clear Creek. Although the Eagles dropped that game 38-45, it was the best effort of the three for the young team. 

The Eagles essentially have one starter returning from last season, that being senior Neil Gillivan.  Most of the scoring responsibility, at least early in the season, rests with Gillivan, as does leading the young team on the court.  Shane Vaughn and Anthony Cole are returning for their third year on the team and Jared Kennedy is back for year two.  Everyone else is new, and they have a ways to go.  In addition, the numbers are down, with approximately eight players available for the game, so good conditioning is a requirement.

Against Clear Creek, early, the Eagles prevailed.  They jumped to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter.  The defense was aggressive, if not thoroughly schooled in the fundamentals, but Clear Creek came back to narrow the score to 11-8 at the quarter.

But the Eagles played hard.  They attacked on defense, and showed good pursuit when getting down the court defensively.  Offensively, they are still working out some details.  In the second quarter, the Eagles had some good looks at the basket and edged the scoring margin up to 21-16 at the half.

As seems to be a recurring pattern, the Eagles came onto the floor in the third quarter down.  They were sluggish, they were not running any offense, and the passing turnovers were killing them.  Players standing in position waiting for a pass never touched the ball because it was picked off by the Diggers.  Clear Creek was also controlling the rebounds, sometimes getting three or more attempts at the basket from point blank range. Not happy with what he was seeing, Coach Chris Wright called a timeout for a pep talk. Immediately thereafter Gillivan hit a three point shot, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Eagles from falling behind at the quarter 28-29.

The fourth quarter was a disaster for the Eagles.  The defense collapsed and turnovers remained a problem. Clear Creek worked up to an eight point lead before Coach Wright called a time out to tell his boys they were still in the game.  They listened and they believed, and they went back onto the court visibly more aggressive and up tempo.  Toward the end of the game, the Eagles also began a press, trying to force turnovers from the Diggers.  But, the young team fell just short, dropping the home opener 38-45.

Individual statistics were unavailable for the Merino or Christian Fellowship game, but against Clear Creek, the scoring was broken down as expected.  Anthony Cole scored three points, had one block and 11 rebounds; Shane Vaughn had eight points, two steals and three rebounds, Neil Gillivan racked up 14 points and 11 rebounds, Craig Robertson had seven points, one steal and nine rebounds; Mike Marr finished with three points, one steal and four rebounds; Calvin Berg had three blocks and two rebounds, and Jared Kennedy had two points and two rebounds.