The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Back-to-back wins keeps team on track
Every game counts for the Titan boys’ basketball team as they position themselves for a favorable seed in the upcoming playoffs.
After falling to Creede last week, the Titans rebounded to take two wins last weekend against the Mountain Valley Indians and the Holy Trinity Tigers in mighty Mt. Olympus.
While the Titans handled Mountain Valley fairly easily earlier in the season, the Indians picked up some new talent from a neighboring school, posing a possible threat to the Titans’ late-season run.
“They’re a team that could cause some trouble,” says coach Robin Loyed. “We didn’t know what to expect.”
All concerns were pushed away in the opening quarter as Crested Butte jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first half, led by balanced scoring from the starters and a stifling press.
Junior Henry Linehan opened the game with consecutive stop-and-pop six-foot jumpers.
Junior Jake Grogg and sophomore Anton Peck offered a mix of power and quickness in the paint and a three-pointer from sophomore Luis Aguirre had the Titans up 20-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Linehan maintained the hot hand in the second quarter, hitting three more shots from the perimeter. Aguirre tossed in a second three-pointer and freshman Clifford Gibbens came into the game to hit three of four from the free throw line to cap the second quarter Titans’ surge and build a 37-23 lead.
Junior Sky Egelhoff joined Aguirre from three-point land, opening the third quarter with consecutive bombs from beyond the arc. Peck closed the quarter with two baskets inside and Aguirre added his third three-pointer of the game to put the Titans on top 53-34.
Peck closed the game with six more points in the fourth quarter for a team leading 18 points on the game all the while handling Mountain Valley’s 6’5” center on defense as the Titans rolled to a 62-40 win.
“He came to play,” says Loyed. “Anton knew he had to come up big against their 6’5” guy.”
Linehan followed Peck with 16 points adding in six assists and the team’s defense, led by their ever-improving press, pulled off 17 steals.
“We knew our pressure would be effective,” says Loyed.
The Titans’ hot hands from the perimeter continued the following day when they hosted Holy Trinity on Friday, February 5.
The team shot a season best 47-percent from the floor inside of three-point range to cruise to a 56-35 win. And not just the starters as 10 different players contributed on offense.
“That gave us some balance,” says Loyed.
Defense and the press set the tone in the early stages of the game as the Titans took a 14-4 lead in the first quarter.
“We wanted to get the press going and get the young guys in for some minutes,” says Loyed.
Loyed worked the entirety of his bench throughout the next three quarters and the Titans continued to pull away from Holy Trinity. Senior Baron Farnell sealed the win, battling in the paint for a career high four points down the stretch to ice the 56-35 victory.
Peck led the team again with 12 points and three blocks and Linehan scored eight points and dealt seven of the team’s season high 20 assists.
The team’s defense closed the game with 26 steals on the night with Egelhoff and freshman Jesse Reeves doing most of the damage.
Reeves finished the game with 10 points, most of which came off his work on defense.
“He had an outstanding defensive game,” says Loyed.
The two wins has them on pace to finish the season fourth in the standings. A fourth place seed will guarantee the Titans a home game in the opening round of the district tournament.
“We needed to win both of those games to stay on track,” says Loyed.
After a non-conference game on Tuesday, the Titans close league play on the road as they face Sierra Grande on Friday, February 12 and Aguilar on Saturday, February 13.
“These games are crucial from a momentum standpoint,” says Loyed.
If all goes as planned, the Titans will host the first round of district play the third week of February in mighty Mt. Olympus.
