The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Close season with five wins
The Crested butte Titan boys finished off the regular season on fire, winning their last five games including three road wins in the past week.
It all started Tuesday, February 9 as the Titans headed to the San Luis Valley for a showdown with 2A school Center. Center provides some stout non-league competition for the Titans and can test their will in preparation for the upcoming post season.
It turned out that coach Robin Loyed got just what he was looking for out of the Center game as the Titans came back to win 54-48.
“We were down at halftime and I told the guys we’re gonna see what kind of team we got,” says Loyed.
Sophomore Anton Peck led the team with 21 points and junior Jake Grogg dominated the boards pulling down a team leading 12 rebounds.
The team as a whole shot 81 percent from the free-throw line, including key hits from the line down the stretch to secure the win.
“That set the stage for the Sierra Grande game,” says Loyed.
The Titans returned to the road on Friday, February 12 opening a two-game stretch with a thrilling overtime win against league opponent Sierra Grande.
While the Titans defense opened the game as tenacious as ever, their offense sputtered through the first half scoring a scant 11 points.
The Titans emerged from their offensive fog in the third quarter to pull within six points heading into the fourth quarter.
With their full-court press still intact, the Titans maintained pressure on Sierra Grande the rest of regulation chipping away at the Sierra Grande lead.
Grogg took control of the paint to hit a couple key baskets down the stretch, and sophomore Luis Aguirre led the attack from the perimeter with two three-pointers in the final quarter as the Titans comeback continued.
Junior Henry Linehan sank two free throws with 30 seconds left to pull within two points and Sierra Grande turned the ball over to offer Crested Butte one last shot.
Peck took over from there driving the lane with four seconds to go to hit the game-tying basket forcing overtime.
From there the Titans just kept on rolling. Aguirre hit his third three-pointer of the game to open overtime and the Titans never looked back outscoring Sierra Grande 10-3 for the 42-35 win.
“Our defense was superb,” says Loyed. “Grogg was a monster inside and Luis’ shooting was just a dagger down the stretch.”
Crested Butte closed the regular season on Saturday, February 13 against Aguilar.
The Titans jumped out to a 29-16 lead by halftime and Loyed used his bench to seal the win including four points from senior Barron Farnell for the 56-31 win.
Senior Emmett McFarland had a career game with 12 points, three assists, three steals and six rebounds. Linehan led the team with 14 points on the night and freshman Ryan Costello filled in for Grogg in the paint with six points and seven rebounds.
The Titans will now host the first round of the district tournament on Tuesday, February 23 in mighty Mt. Olympus.
