BROOMFIELD >> What impressed most in Broomfield boys basketball’s 65-27 win over Centaurus on Friday night wasn’t its 3-point shooting — though that was certainly something to behold — or its ability to spread out the floor. It was the physicality that the Eagles brought to the contest.

Four of the five losses the Eagles had suffered ahead of the game had come against teams ranked in the top 10 of CHSAA’s Class 6A Selection & Seeding Index, and the other to the No. 2 ranked team in Kansas, and they played with the type of ferocity one would expect from such opponents.

Whether it was the constant 3-point drains from senior Andrew Effland or the flashy dunk from senior Ethan Zufall, Broomfield certainly knew how to put on a show. Its defense, in return, was just as brutal.

“We’ve learned from our tough losses,” Effland said. “We really learned what we did wrong, and we’re all super tight and really good friends. It was to take care of turnovers and really step up our defense. Our pressure on defense, when it’s good, we strive and we can run and score whenever and at ease.”

Effland led all scorers with 17 points, mostly from behind the arc, but he enjoyed plenty of backup from the likes of 6-foot-7 junior Caleb Dunn (11 points), senior Joey Cook (nine points) and senior Blaes Kane (nine points).

“Everyone on our team can score on any given night,” Effland added. “It really just is who’s hitting. You need to swing it around and find the open teammate and let them shine.”

The Eagles controlled the pace of play from start to finish, leading by as much as 30 points at 44-14 in the third quarter, before the Warriors started to weave their way back in. Sophomores Jack Lyle, Faya Tolno and junior JT Falzone were the main catalysts in a 9-3 Centaurus run in the third.

Senior Sam Esposito led the Warriors with eight points as they continue to adjust to first-year head coach Tyler Oliver’s system.

“It’s definitely been a change from Coach (Travis) Maron because Coach T.O. brings the same intensity and defensive energy as Coach Maron does and then a little bit more flexibility on offense,” Esposito said. “It’s been a bit of a struggle, and that’s not all on Coach T.O. A lot of our team is very young. We have a lot of sophomores, a lot of juniors. We’re still trying to adapt and grow as a team in the first place with only four seniors. We’re not adapting badly, but it just takes some more time.”

The Eagles improved to 7-5 with the victory and will return home on Tuesday to take on Frederick. The Warriors, meanwhile, dropped to 5-4 ahead of a late Saturday game at Windsor.

“I think this is a good loss,” Esposito said. “I think it really shows us the teams that we’re going to be playing are going to be like and how hard they’re going to play. We just need to learn from this and grow.”