![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AW2Col24.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLITTLETON \u2014\u00a0The action was non-stop in the Class 6A Jeffco League boys basketball opener Monday night at Columbine High School.<\/p>\n
Arvada West and Columbine combined for 178 points, 18 made 3-pointers and 55 free throws taken. The visiting Wildcats remained undefeated on the season with a 96-82 win to start conference play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means we both have great offensives,\u201d A-West senior Keegen Balistreri said of the high-scoring affair. \u201cIf our defense can\u2019t get it done we have a great offense to get it done. I just like to win the game, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balistreri led the way for the Wildcats with a team-high 28 points. A-West junior Cooper Vais poured in nine points in the first quarter, then the senior really got going in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only reason why I was able to get those shots was because my teammates create for me,\u201d Balistreri said of his 13-point second quarter that allowed the Wildcats to take a 49-34 lead at halftime. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for them I wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balistreri finished with 28 points. Vais poured in 22 points. Senior Anthony Torres (14 points) and Noah Meurer (13 points) also had double-digit points in the Wildcats\u2019 highest scoring output so far this season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dennis Pleuss\/Jeffco Public Schools<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust our players. We trust our system to share the ball. It is no different than what Eddie used to do,\u201dA-West coach Danny Vais said referring to his former basketball coach at A-West, the late Eddie Reeves. \u201cWe play together and I thought all our guys stepped up at different times.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sophomore Vedad Hadzic and junior Jeremiah Gonzalez both had 7 points each to help out the Wildcats\u2019 cause and allow A-West (11-0 record, 1-0 in 6A Jeffco) to stay undefeated.<\/p>\n
Columbine (6-3, 0-1) has scored over 80 points three times already this season. The Rebels were led by Dyson and Cash Boykin. Dyson, a sophomore, poured in 33 points. His senior brother scored 25 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose (Boykin) brothers are tough to stop,\u201d Coach Vais said after Dyson and Cash managed to combine for 58 points. <\/p>\n
Dyson scored 17 points in the fourth quarter alone. Columbine trimmed A-West\u2019s lead to 8 points midway through the final quarter. Vais and Meurer made back-to-back 3-pointers over the span of 50 seconds in the fourth quarter to push the Wildcats\u2019 lead back to double-digits. <\/p>\n
The Wildcats also went 14-for-16 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to seal the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was glad our guys fought through the adversity, even what I put on them,\u201d Coach Vais said. \u201cThey kept playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AW15Col0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dennis Pleuss\/Jeffco Public Schools<\/p>\n
Coach Vais picked up a technical foul with 5:43 left to play in the fourth quarter. Columbine converted two A-West fouls sandwiched in-between Coach Vais\u2019s technical foul making 5-of-6 free throws.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just a great team and have a great compatibility with each other,\u201d Balistreri said. \u201cI feel like we are so tight-knit and play together good. We are showing out this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
It looks like 6A Jeffco might have some realistic team that have a chance to make deep playoff runs. Ralston Valley (10-0, 1-0), Valor Christian (6-5, 1-0), along with A-West got wins Monday to open league play. Chatfield (8-1, 0-1) had its undefeated start come to an end with a close loss to Valor. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love what the job they have done down here (Columbine). Obviously, Chatfield is doing a great job. RV, Valor and Lakewood are tough,\u201d Vais said of the 6A Jeffco League teams that have a combined 47-24 overall record through Monday\u2019s games. \u201cIt makes it a fun environment for the fans to be in. It helps the league as a whole to get ready for those playoff runs.\u201d<\/p>\n
A-West has its league home opener against Lakewood on Wednesday, Jan. 14. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t focus on that,\u201d Balistreri said of the perfect 11-0 record. \u201cWe focus on getting the job done. We love getting after people. We don\u2019t look at the fact that we haven\u2019t lost yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Columbine will attempt to bounce back against Valor on the Rebels\u2019 home court Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Col24slam.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dennis Pleuss\/Jeffco Public Schools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LITTLETON \u2014\u00a0The action was non-stop in the Class 6A Jeffco League boys basketball opener Monday night at Columbine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[73561,7,73562],"class_list":["post-533431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-arvada-west","tag-basketball","tag-columbine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}