Unselfishness isn’t just a bug with Longmont boys basketball. It’s a feature.

Despite losing key pieces last year — two of which (Keegan Patterson and Brendan Barcewski) contributed 30.7 combined points per game — the 11th-seeded Trojans always seem to be a perennial powerhouse in the northern half of the state. Their 59-45 statement win over No. 22 Mountain View, during the first round of the Class 5A state tournament on Thursday night, illuminated that fact further.

Three boys surpassed the double-digit scoring mark while freshman shooting guard Joey Foot crashed the glass hard and senior shooting guard Reese Pearson proved himself to be quite the thief. Senior shooting guard Kaden Rose led the Trojans with 13 points, followed by Pearson’s 12 and senior forward Bau Brush’s 11.

“It just shows our dedication to always be the best team and always compete with some of the best teams out there,” Brush said. “We work hard every second in practice. We’re always getting coached hard, and we know that no matter what the coaches say to us, they love us and they’re looking for the best thing for us.”

The players wrote their own love letter to the coaches from the moment the game began. It came in the form of rebounds and floaters in lieu of flowers and chocolates.

Despite some icy play from both teams early on — no doubt from the ungodly cold outside — the Trojans broke through first and, once they got hot, they didn’t stop. Longmont took a 24-7 lead with 5 minutes, 10 seconds left in the first half, only to see the Mountain Lions make a bit of a run themselves to close out the second frame.

Longmont led 28-19 at the half, but that was just the tipping point.

Throughout the rest of the contest, the Trojans consistently pressured on both sides of the ball and made Mountain View work for every point it netted. No matter how hard the Mountain Lions tried, they couldn’t match the intensity that Longmont was putting out on the floor.

But that’s just become par for the course for the team’s “we instead of me” basketball. It’s served the team well so far with its 17-7 record, and the boys hope it will only help to bolster their game further when they head to No. 6 Lewis-Palmer on Saturday for the Sweet 16.

“We see flashes of a team that is really, really great,” head coach Jeff Kloster said. “I’m proud of the kids. When things started to get a little bit tight, they had ways to respond. We hit some threes, went inside-out, got the ball inside where we got Bau Brush.

“I thought Joey Foot really gave us great minutes. Joey really did a great job on the boards. He was very consistent. It’s great to see from someone who’s only a freshman. I made the comment, I said, ‘He’s arrived.’ It doesn’t mean that he has to score just a dozen points. He’s doing all the little things that we need.”