The evening of basketball began with the boys’ junior varsity game. The game went into overtime. Squeaking out a win were the Gilpin Eagles with a score of 28-25.
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Gilpin junior (#5) Ryan Marr goes up for a shot against Nederland.
Gilpin High School sophomore Jack Fisher passes the ball down court to set up the Eagles offense.
An excellent free throw shooter, Eagle senior Taurean Paxton shoots two.
Panther senior Indio Koonz positions himself in the paint.
Nederland junior Simon Schlosser stops, focuses on the hoop, and shoots. Three more points for the Panthers.
Nederland senior Drew Hertzfeld brings the ball down court while Gilpin senior Vinny Schoell defends.
Gilpin runs defense as Nederland senior Mason Ivey drives in for a shot.
GILPIN COUNTY — It is always an exciting game when the Gilpin Eagles and Nederland Panthers boys’ basketball teams meet on the court. This season, the contest was held at the Gilpin County School.
The evening of basketball began with the boys’ junior varsity game. The game went into overtime. Squeaking out a win were the Gilpin Eagles with a score of 28-25.
When the varsity boys’ took the court, Panther junior Micah LeFaiver was the first to put points on the scoreboard, sinking a 3-point shot.
The Panthers and Eagles went point for point in the first quarter. When the buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read Gilpin 13 and Nederland 12.
By half time, the Eagles had pulled ahead 35 to the Panthers' 22. The play was fast and aggressive. The crowd was loud.
Micah LeFaiver began the second half with another 3-point shot to help get the Panthers back in the game. The Panthers clawed their way back, but the Eagles held them back by just two points in the end.
The final score was 52-50.
The Eagles were led in scoring by sophomore Jack Fisher with an impressive 20 points and senior Taurean Paxton with 13 points.
The Panthers were led in scoring by junior Simon Schlosser with 12 points, junior Micah LeFavier with 11 points and senior Drew Hertzfeld with 11 points. Panther senior Indio Koonz pulled down 14 rebounds.
Both boys’ varsity teams have new head coaches this season. The Eagles coach is Will Lorenz and Panthers coach is Stephen LeFaiver.
LeFaiver has been playing basketball his entire life, even playing on travelling teams that had him going to the former Soviet Union.
LeFaiver has been coaching at Nederland schools for some years now and said he is “loving the opportunity to be head coach.” He coached with John Leventhal and is grateful for the mentorship.
LeFavier, Leventhal, and current assistant coach Kevin Cronan have been instrumental in the growth and development of Nederland Middle-Senior High School’s basketball program.
LeFavier has not seen this amount of depth on a previous Nederland team that he has worked with before.
“I am proud of the way the team is coming along," he said. "We are working hard, learning new aspects of the game, and growing together as a team. We have a mix of experiences on the team led by a strong senior class that has been playing together all four years. We also have a few players who have never played basketball before and it has been cool to see the older players embrace and encourage the new players.”
“We are working hard to be more competitive and become more disciplined as a team,” LeFavier added.
Coach Lorenz was contacted to provide comment for this article. No response was received.
