The Longmont boys basketball team received an overseas surprise at the beginning of the school year.

A bloody good surprise.

Two players from England, 6- foot-5 Dave Edden and 6-3 Syd Donaldson, moved to Longmont just before the school year, and they've helped the Class 4A No. 3 Trojans leap to a 5-0 start this season.

The two combined for 18 points and 13 rebounds Friday night as the Trojans put away No. 4 Niwot 61-42 in the Longmont gymnasium.

Longmont pulled away from its Northern League rival when sophomore guard Cade Kloster got hot in the second quarter. Kloster hit three three-pointers and scored 11 points in the period, part of his career-best 19 points for the game.

Kloster's first three-pointer put the Trojans up 17-13 at the beginning of the second quarter, and with 1 minute, 45 seconds before halftime, his third put Longmont up by 11 points. His buzzer beater at the end of the third period broke open the game, giving the Trojans a 47-31 advantage.

"My teammates really shared the ball so I could get open," said Kloster, who went 5-for-7 from behind the three-point line. "I have to give credit to them for finding me."

Plenty of credit goes to the newest members of Longmont's team for making it one of 4A's early surprises. The Trojans already were a good, athletic team, but now they have a strong inside presence.

The Trojans missed several shots underneath the basket for three quarters, and midway through the third, Longmont coach Jeff Kloster asked one of his assistants, "How many layups have we missed?"

But Edden put his coach's mind at ease by scoring all 10 of his points in the second half from inside the paint.

"I was really, really bad inside in the first half," said Edden, who led the Trojans with eight rebounds. "I don't know why, but I played all right in the second half. It was good that other people were scoring points so we didn't really have to score inside tonight."

Edden looked comical with a Band-Aid over his lip to cover a cut, and after the game, several people asked, "Got Milk?" as they shook his hand.

"I had to laugh at him," Cade Kloster said.

Edden put the Trojans ahead by 20 points in the fourth quarter when Tom Pane fed him a no-look pass. Longmont's bench finished the game.

Niwot center Jeff Roueche had a solid performance in the loss, which brought the Cougars' strong start to an end. Roueche led the Cougars (4-1, 1-1) with 16 points and twice had three-point plays that brought Longmont scoring streaks to an end.

"It just got away from us in the second quarter when they hit some shots, and we didn't hit our shots," Niwot coach David Ross said. "Cade Kloster was a huge spark for them off the bench."

Niwot11 9 11 11 - 42

Longmont14 20 13 14 - 61

N - Jeff Roueche 6 4-4 16, Andrew Guido 2 0-0 5, Connor Kloepfer 0 1-2 1, Cody Lahman 0 0-0 0, Veric Nichols 3 2-3 9, Howie Rubsam 2 0-0 4, Drew Janzen 1 0-2 3, Connor Martin 1 0-0 2, Ryan Strufing 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 7-11 42.

L - Tom Pane 6 1-1 13, Ryan Chopp 2 0-0 4, Syd Donaldson 3 1-2 8, Tevan McIntire 2 0-0 4, David Edden 5 0-0 10, Cade Kloster 6 2-3 19, Jay Knaus 0 2-2 2, Nick Chopp 0 1-2 1. Totals 24 7-10 61.

Three-point goals - N, Guido, Janzen, Nichols; L, Kloster 5, Donaldson.