Boys’ hoops suffers big loss to Center Vikings at home

“We were just overmatched”

Coach Brandin Hamilton knew it was going to be rough. Center was lighting up the league and had a player averaging more than 30 points a game. Furthermore, they played a deceptively tough 1-3-1 zone that can cause massive confusion for even the most experienced offenses.

As a result, he spent the better part of the week leading up to Friday’s game against Center, getting his squad used to what they would face both on offense and on defense. Although, Hamilton admits, it’s nearly impossible to imitate what his team was going to see.
“I knew exactly what Center was going to do and we worked on it all week long,” says Hamilton. “But it’s hard to replicate that in practice.”
And while the foundation for success was laid down, there’s not a whole lot a coach can do about nerves and Hamilton believes intimidation was the main culprit of the Titans’ slow start.
The Titans struggled on offense as a mix of trepidation and impatience handcuffed Crested Butte. Meanwhile, Center had little trouble doing what they do on offense, penetrating inside for easy looks at the basket, building an 18-1 lead in the first quarter.
“There was a lack of execution,” says Hamilton. “We would just come down the court, make one or two passes and then try to do something hard.”
At that point, with the pressure somewhat off, the Titans started to click some on offense. Their first trip up the court in the second quarter showed what they had been planning for all week as several passes around the perimeter found a look inside to Tommy Rainville.
Center responded scoring the next six points, but the Titans stayed true to their plan as Quinn Winter hit an eight-foot jump shot, Joe Hayes buried a 16-footer and David Wasinger drove the lane to pull up for two more points.
The Titans stayed with Center through the second quarter but the first quarter disaster was still too deep a hole to climb out of.
“With a little more patience in the first quarter, we could have been in a better spot,” says Hamilton. “They calmed down in the second quarter a little bit.”
While Center is a step above the Titans, Hamilton wanted to see more out of his team in the second half and he put the challenge to them during the break.
They came out in the third quarter with some of their best basketball of the game, if not the season. Patience on offense opened up shots inside and outside. Rainville scored two more baskets inside and Winter and Wasinger knocked down three-pointers. Granted, Center came back down the court to respond each time but progress was being made and the Titans, despite the 25-point deficit, continued to plug away.
“I told them to move the ball, work together and wait for the right opportunities,” explains Hamilton. “I got on them, they did it and I was proud of them.”
The Titans rattled off another solid quarter in the fourth, dominating the boards and scoring double digits but Center proved too much for the young Titans team and cruised to a 60-32 win.
Winter led the team with 13 points, Rainville scored eight and Wasinger added in seven points while spending most of the game trying to shut down the league’s leading scorer.
“I think they did a good job executing on defense,” says Hamilton. “We held their leading scorer to 17 points but they have a lot of guys that can score. We were just overmatched.”
The Titans will now face even a bigger challenge this Friday, January 24 as they host Sanford. Sanford is coming off a six-point win over Center and is the second-ranked team in the state.
They stay at home on Saturday, January 25 to host Cripple Creek. Tip off on Friday for the boys’ varsity is at 6:30 p.m. and then 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“I want to see our best performance of the season against Sanford,” says Hamilton. “Cripple Creek is a must-win. It’s one of those games where we’ll learn a little bit more about where we stand in the league.”