The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Our defense was good”
The Crested Butte Titans boys’ basketball team continues to struggle with inconsistent play, no matter the opponent.
The team headed to South Park to take on the Burros. Last year, the Burros were young but made up for it with intensity, giving the Titans fits before Crested Butte pulled away for a 15-point win.
This year, the Burros were the same, just one year wiser, and held off a couple of Titans’ surges to hand them a 37-34 defeat.
“It was a scrappy game,” says Titan coach Brandin Hamilton. “Back and forth the whole time.”
The Burros built a six-point lead in the first half but Crested Butte managed to pull back into the game with a couple of key baskets and tied it up 17-17 at the half.
Kane Hamilton turned his game up in the third quarter, taking South Park’s leading scorer out of the game while producing points at the other end of the court. His effort and the Titans’ defense helped the team build a six-point lead.
“Our defense held strong and we started scoring,” says Brandin.
But South Park adjusted to keep the Titans from putting the game away for good.
“They upped the pressure, which rattled us,” says Brandin. “We took hurried shots when we needed easy buckets.”
The tide turned in the Burros’ favor as they came back to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
Jesse Reeves drained a big three-pointer to cut the South Park lead down to three and then Joe Hayes hit a huge bucket to put the Titans back on top with four minutes left to go.
The Titans’ struggles on offense would seal their fate down the stretch as they eventually fell 37-34.
“We had every opportunity to put the game away,” says Brandin. “Our defense was good—we just struggled to execute on offense.”
The Titans are about to run into a buzz saw this week, with three league games coming up and several starters questionable for a variety of reasons.
“I may just have Jesse and my JV players for all four games,” says Brandin.
The Titans play at home on Thursday, February 14 at 4:30 p.m. and again on Friday, February 15 at 6:30 p.m. before heading off to the San Luis Valley to face Sangre de Cristo on Saturday.
