The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It went the way I was worried it would go”
Coach Brandin Hamilton knew the Titan boys’ game with Custer County would be rough, but hoped it wouldn’t turn out the way it ultimately did.
For starters, the team was missing starting point guard junior Jesse Reeves and starting guard and defensive specialist senior Luis Aguirre. Junior post player Ryan Costello was back, but he was far from 100 percent, having missed the last two weeks of workouts with an illness.
Hamilton did what he could to prepare the team for the upcoming game, but Custer County proved too much for the disheveled Titan team.
The Titans made it through the first quarter relatively unscathed, using a mix of man-to-man and zone defenses to disrupt Custer County on offense.
Unfortunately, Custer County had a plan in place to shut down the Titans on offense as well, with an emphasis on the Titans’ leading scorer, junior Kane Hamilton.
“They game-planned us,” says Brandin. “They made sure they had three guys with an eye on Kane at all times.”
The Titans stayed with Custer County through the first quarter before a couple of late buckets gave Custer County a 13-6 lead.
Custer County then stepped up the pressure on the Titans, trapping them at half court to send Crested Butte into near complete chaos.
“Things started falling apart in the second quarter,” says Brandin. “The pressure started wearing on us.”
The Titans fell behind 31-18 at halftime and when both Kane and senior Anton Peck got in foul trouble in the third quarter— Custer County poured it on.
Custer County’s man-to-man defense completely shut the Titans down and Custer County outscored the Titans 14-4 in the third quarter to build a 23-point lead.
“We couldn’t get into anything on offense,” says Brandin.
Remarkably, despite a comfortable 23-point lead, Custer County continued to put the screws to the Titans in the fourth quarter, scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter to finish the Titans off 71-35.
“It went the way I was worried it would go,” says Brandin.
Kane led the team at both ends of the court with 15 points, close to 10 rebounds and nearly as many blocks.
The Titans were handed another blow on Monday as it became obvious that Reeves would be out for the rest of the season and Kane would miss the next two weeks as well.
The Titans head to Antonito on Friday, February 17 and will finish league play at home in mighty Mt. Olympus on Saturday, February 18 when they host Sangre de Cristo. The boys JV will start at 3:30 p.m. with the boy’s varsity slated to start at 6:30 p.m.
The Titans will host a district playoff game on Monday, February 20. Tip-off is tentatively set for 5 p.m.
Despite the battle-worn team, Brandin is ramping up the team to get them ready for a strong finish, no matter what the outcome.
“These guys will be ready this weekend,” says Brandin.
