Boys’ hoops season concludes

“We still managed to compete and play hard”

It was a frustrating season for first year boys’ basketball head coach Brandin Hamilton and his team. They never did quite reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
“It was tough,” says Hamilton. “It seemed like every time we were coming together, we’d have a setback.”
The team entered the district tournament the seventh seed out of 11 teams and drew the ninth-seeded Antonito team in the first round last Monday.
They won by a score of 56-50 and looked to gain momentum as they advanced in the district tournament.
Unfortunately, they would face the eventual district tournament champions, Custer County, in their second game of the post-season.
Custer County decimated the Titans earlier in the year but that was without the Titans’ starting point guard, junior Jesse Reeves.
“I thought we could play them better with Jesse back,” says Hamilton. “He brings some organization to the court.”
Reeves made his presence known immediately, scoring 15 points in the first half as the Titans pulled within two points with a minute left in the first half. Custer County rattled off the next six points to close the half with a 29-21 lead but Hamilton and the Titans felt the game was well within reach.
Custer County opened the second half with a box-in-one defense to deny Reeves but Hamilton made a quick adjustment to open up the middle for senior Anton Peck.
Peck got several good looks at the basket inside but the ball just wasn’t dropping, as Custer County outscored the Titans 10-2 in the third quarter. The Titans recovered to put up 10 points in the fourth quarter but the game was out of reach as Custer County sealed the 52-33 win.
Reeves led the team with 15 points.
“Not scoring in the third quarter was the ballgame,” says Hamilton. “I thought we played pretty well but the shots weren’t falling and we didn’t play great defense.”
The loss sent the Titans to the loser’s bracket to face La Veta on Friday, February 24, another team that handed the Titans a big loss earlier in the season.
La Veta opened the game red hot from three-point range, hitting six of seven from behind the arc in the first half and taking a 36-13 lead into halftime.
“Our general fundamental defense looked fine but they killed us on transition,” says Hamilton. “We dug a deep hole in the first half.”
The Titans cut La Veta’s lead in the second half but the damage was done as La Veta rolled to 54-34 win, eliminating the Titans from the post season.
On the bright side, a majority of the scoring was shared between three Titans as Peck led the team with 10 points, Reeves scored nine and freshman Kaleb Schultz came off the bench to toss in eight points.
The Titans finished with a record of 6-13 amidst all of the turmoil and injuries. And while a losing record can wear on a team as the season progresses, Hamilton felt his squad remained focused at heart through it all.
“I was proud of how we finished the season,” says Hamilton. “We still managed to compete and play hard. We got through the initial phase of expectations and with some positive off-season work, we will be stronger.”