Lobos take part in Rough Riders tournament over break

Tournament acts as a motivator as the Lobos head into the final stretch of the season

Photo by Laurel Ainsworth

Junior Landon Wallace flies above a Littleton defender to score two of his six total points in the game on Tuesday, January 15. The Lobos won, 58-55.

This past winter break, while most students were resting, the Conifer Lobos basketball team competed at the Roughrider Shootout at Roosevelt High School. After one win and two losses, they did not win the tournament, but they are maintaining high hopes for the rest of the season.

The Lobos played against Silver Creek 54-69, Denver West 65-30, and Niwot 48-51. Currently, their record sits at 6-6 overall, however, the season is far from over and there are plenty games for the Lobos to regain their momentum.

The leading scorer of the tournament from the Lobos was junior Landon Wallace, who had a total of 43 points. Wallace also led the team in rebounds (24), assists (34), and steals (20).

“Our energy is super high and we’re close to the standard of always talking during practice,” Wallace said.

 Talking, communicating either on defense or offense, has always been an issue for the Conifer program, throughout all the levels; knowing that they have begun to talk consistently is very promising.

 Junior Cody Jacobson stated that the main problem for their two losses was that the team couldn’t play 100% the entire game. But, this didn’t affect the team in the long run.

 “Our goal is to play all four quarters the right way and come out to a strong lead instead of climbing out of a hole like we did on all three games,” junior Connor Long said.

 The Lobos have begun to regain their stride and drive, recently.  They’ve already played Littleton and won 58-55 and played Arvada and won again 68-33. Tonight they play against Skyview, ranked #59. Conifer is ranked #24.

 Conifer only has six confirmed games remaining and three to be decided, which are tournament and playoff games. The Lobos have been working towards being able to compete the entire game and keep their foot on the pedal, and they’ve also been working on their communication which has been a problem and will be a huge boost towards the final games of the season if they will be able to communicate effectively.

 Currently, Conifer is not projected to make the 4A class playoffs; however, with six games left in their season, there is plenty of time for the Loboos to catch up to the rest of the pack.