‘Rock Solid in Colorado - Herder varsity boys basketball goes undefeated winning out-of-state tournament

High school basketball season is still six long months away, but the Glenrock boys’ varsity is already making strides in becoming a better team when winter comes around. They made that known in Golden, Co. where they won every time they stepped onto the court en route to winning the summer tournament camp championship May 27-29.
“I couldn’t be happier with how the boys competed,” GHS head coach Shawn Huxtable said. “It was total teamwork and everyone was involved. If there was an open guy, we made the pass. If we couldn’t drive to the basket, we kicked the ball out to a teammate. It was beautiful to watch.”
The tournament went three days and the Herders played consistent from start to finish. That resulted in winning all three pool play games, one friendly contest and then sweeping all three foes in bracket play to win the championship.
“The talent on this team is there, but what I saw this weekend is how well they worked together,” Huxtable said. “It’s also the way this group gets along. The way they play like a family, like a group of brothers that support each other off the court and knows what each other will do on the court. Driving to the basket and making the pass with just a nod of the head.”
Glenrock needed to win its pool play in order to make the championship bracket, anything less would have put the squad in the consolation half. 
The Herders opened by thumping Wellington 75-25 and Riverdale Ridge 52-44. After that close contest, they continued to roll with a 57-20 win over Arrupe Jesuit and an eight-point decision over Skyview Academy.
“Another thing that made this tournament a little extra special was they weren’t just winning games in the small school division, but they were beating schools with enrollments of 1,200 and more. In Colorado, that’s a small school, for us, that’s a big school,” Huxtable said of the competition that was comparable to 4A schools in Wyoming.
The four-game win streak placed the Herders in the championship bracket where they won all three games, starting with a double-digit win over Boulder Red. The Herders advanced to the championship after getting by Riverdale Ridge again by eight points.
Glenrock faced its toughest challenge in the title game. The group trailed early but rallied to even the score 23-23 at halftime before pulling away for a 52-39 victory.
With it being the seventh game in three days, both teams slowed down the pace in the first half where the Herders faced a 2-3 zone defense. However, Huxtable told his team since they were able to rest in the first half that it was time to open up the floor and score some fast break points and that’s exactly what the group did to pull away for the win. 
“They played the kind of basketball that wins games during the high school season,” Huxtable said. “If they build on this, play unselfish basketball like we saw the whole weekend, these boys are going to win a lot more games this winter. It’s pretty exciting to think about.”