The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Host Cripple Creek on Saturday
It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the Crested Butte Titans basketball team. On one hand, the Titans lost two of three games including a loss to a team they destroyed earlier this year.
On the other hand, the one win was on Friday night in mighty Mt. Olympus and was their only league contest of the three.
“We’re 1-0 in the league,” quips head coach Brandin Hamilton.
The weekend marked the return of the Titans to full strength. Heading into the Christmas break, the Titans were missing three starters from their roster for a variety of reasons.
Though the addition of players can be a shot in the arm, the reality is, it will still take some time before the team starts to click as a team.
The Titans opened the weekend on Thursday night against the Del Norte Tigers in mighty Mt. Olympus. With junior Jesse Reeves and senior Anton Peck returning to action, hopes were high among players and fans.
Reeves made his presence known right off the opening tip, scoring six points in the first four minutes of the first quarter.
Senior Sean Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, Peck dropped in a jump hook and senior Luis Aguirre drained a three-pointer to put the Titans up 13-5.
A defensive adjustment by Del Norte slowed Reeves down and the Tigers proceeded to go on a 17-4 scoring run to close the first half with a 21-17 lead over the Titans.
The Titans offense continued to struggle in the second half and Del Norte closed the game strong, handing Crested Butte a 47-31 loss.
Reeves led the Titans with 11 points, followed by Johnson with 10. Peck was held to just two points all game.
“I thought we were fairly evenly matched. We just were not synched offensively,” says Hamilton.
Hamilton put a positive spin on the loss for his players and set the goal for his team as they prepared for their league opener on Friday in Mt. Olympus against Center.
“We had some good moments of execution but shots just weren’t dropping,” explains Hamilton. “Going into the Center game, the theme was mental toughness.”
The Titans started out on fire, building an early 8-0 lead led by six points from Johnson hitting three short-range jumpers in a row.
But the Titans turned “lethargic” in the second quarter, allowing Center to cut the Crested Butte lead down to three points by halftime.
Hamilton used all 10 minutes of the halftime break, picking Center apart in the locker room for his team.
“I just tried to make adjustments that would loosen us up offensively,” says Hamilton.
Hamilton introduced a new offense set in the second half that confused the Center defense. The move paid off in spades as the Titans regained their momentum from the first quarter.
“I felt like after that—Center was a little unsure defensively,” says Hamilton.
Peck hit a couple of short jump shots, Aguirre buried another shot from three-point range, and the Titan’s defense did the rest as Crested Butte took a 36-22 lead into the third quarter.
Johnson and Reeves traded off buckets in the fourth quarter and sophomore Tommy Rainville and junior Jose Canto closed the game with a basket each as the Titans rolled to a 50-28 win.
Johnson led the team with 12 points, junior Ryan Costello scored 10, Peck had eight and Reeves finished with eight points.
“Sean had a great weekend and is emerging as one of our leaders on the court,” says Hamilton. “If he can be right around that eight to ten point range, we can be great.”
The stage was then set for a solid close to the weekend as the Titans headed to Leadville on Saturday to play non-league opponent Lake County. The Titans were fresh off a solid win, beat Lake County easily earlier in the season and had junior starter Kane Hamilton joining the team for the first time all season.
Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened, as the Titans crumbled mentally, failed to execute their offense and played sloppy defense to lose 44-23.
“Offensively we just weren’t clicking and our defense was gambling and got beat back-door,” explains Brandin.
After watching the game film of the Lake County debacle, Brandin believes the team is back on track and will continue working on their team play as they prepare for two league games this weekend.
“We had a good practice on Monday and I’m hoping to have good practices all week,” says Brandin. “They’ll be defense in nature and we’ll work on finding our rhythm on offense.”
The Titans head to Sargent on Friday, January 13 and then return home to host Cripple Creek on Saturday, January 14 in Mt. Olympus. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
