The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Hopefully we can build some chemistry”
This time I’m serious—the Titans boys’ basketball team is going to pull it together. The entire team is back from injuries and other “distractions” and they have a chance to close the season strong, if they can put it together over the next week.
After an embarrassing crushing at the hands of Sanford two weeks ago, the Titans headed to Del Norte to face another stout league opponent. In fact, all but three of the teams in the Southern Peaks are “stout league opponents.”
And while they lost to Del Norte as well, Hamilton sees a light at the end of the tunnel.
“We played a pretty good game,” says Hamilton. “We just can’t get over the hump.”
The effort was spearheaded by the Titans team defense. After playing Del Norte earlier this year, Hamilton had his team ready to disrupt Del Norte’s offense.
“We had everything they did locked down,” says Hamilton. “Our team defense stepped up against Del Norte.”
It started off rough for the Titans as Del Norte came out shooting hot from the perimeter, including three from three-point range in the first quarter to build an early lead. And while a week prior, a similar hot streak decimated the Titans for the rest of the game, this time the Titans refused to fold.
“They started off really hot and we couldn’t hit anything in the first quarter,” says Hamilton. “But, we stuck around this time.”
Del Norte carried a ten-point lead for most of the game and it almost got away from the Titans in the third quarter. With both senior Luis Aguirre and junior Jesse Reeves hampered by fouls, they scored only four points the entire quarter.
Nevertheless, the Titans kept chipping away at Del Norte’s lead, cutting it down to six points with just over three minutes left to play.
Unfortunately, they were handed one last blow, literally, when junior Kane Hamilton cracked heads with a Del Norte player and had to leave the game.
Del Norte then iced the 48-38 win, taking advantage of the Titans’ limited numbers and hitting free throws.
Brandin admits that without Peck in the line-up, the team was somewhat handcuffed and it only got worse as they fell into foul trouble.
“I couldn’t press and I couldn’t run or we wouldn’t have anything left in the fourth quarter,” explains Brandin, “so we played a slower game.”
Reeves finished the game leading the Titans with 16 points, followed by Kane, who dropped in 10.
The team now prepares to host South Park on Friday, February 3 in mighty Mt. Olympus. Brandin hopes that following a solid week of practice, the team can build momentum for a late-season run starting with the South Park game.
“This time of year everyone starts to improve or loses momentum,” says Brandin. “We need to start getting some wins. Hopefully, we can build some chemistry.”
Tip-off for the JV boys is at 4:30 p.m. with the varsity game slated to start at 7:30 p.m.
“I hope a lot of people come out—I feel good about this game,” says Brandin.
