Titans suffer at hands of Creede Miners

Poor shooting leads to tough loss

A young team is almost always going to struggle on offense, but what they may lack on one end of the court they can more than make up for with defense. Add in three different press options, which boys head coach Robin Loyed has done, and you’ve got a recipe for success.
The problem lies in between the two. At some point you’ve got to score points in order to set up the press on the ensuing possession.
Friday night at Mt. Olympus the Titans had their defensive strategy in place prior to their game against league powerhouse Creede. The plan was to open with the press and continue with it whenever possible.
Unfortunately, the Titans struggled to score in the opening minutes of the game, finishing the quarter with just four points total. By the time they did score, the team forgot they were supposed to press.
“We wasted a whole quarter without pressing,” says Loyed. “That shooting caused us to dig a hole that was tough to get out of.”
The Titans’ shooting woes continued in the second quarter as they soon found themselves down 18-4 with two minutes left in the half. Junior Sky Egelhoff finally broke the shooting slump for the Titans, hitting a three-pointer with just over a minute left in the second quarter.
Junior Jake Grogg followed with a touch shot off the glass and Egelhoff closed the half with a 12-foot jumper to cut the Creede lead down to nine heading into the locker room.
The play of the bench players and the Titans’ press in the third quarter held Creede to seven points, allowing Crested Butte to climb within four points heading into the fourth quarter.
But with junior Henry Linehan in foul trouble and sporadic shooting still plaguing the Titans, Creede managed to pull away in the fourth quarter to a 44-33 win.
While Egelhoff had a career game with 15 points shooting six of eight, including three for four from three-point land, the team shot a combined 24 percent from the field.
“You can’t beat a great team like Creede with shooting like that,” says Loyed.
 On the bright side, Loyed was impressed with the team’s press and the effort of his younger players off the bench.
“I thought one of our bright spots was the effectiveness of our press,” says Loyed. “We feel that’s a weapon we can rely on. I was really proud of the play of the freshmen in that game. Clifford [Gibbens] and Jesse [Reeves] gave us great minutes in the press.”
The boys will host Mountain Valley on Thursday, February 4 and Holy Trinity on Friday, February 5 at Mt. Olympus. Tip off for both games is at 6:30 p.m.
They will then travel to the San Luis Valley on Tuesday, February 9 to face 2A squad Center.
If the boys win the rest of their league games, they will host the first round of the districts, a key component to post season success.
“This is a really key three-game stretch for us,” says Loyed. “Every single game is important from here on out.”