Boys’ hoops still searching for right mix

Drop two tough ones over weekend

When it comes to the Crested Butte boys’ basketball team, I still believe that it’s not a matter of if, but when they will find the right mix and turn the corner for a successful finish to the 2015 season.
They had a rough weekend, losing to the Del Norte Tigers and the Center Vikings, but the difference between winning and losing is within reach.
The Tigers came into Mt. Olympus on Friday, January 23 fresh off a couple of big wins over league heavyweights and were sitting on top of the league standings. Meanwhile, the Titans continued to struggle in league play but were hoping to turn things around against Del Norte.
Coach Brandin Hamilton pointed out leading up to the game that the Titans needed a near-perfect game against Del Norte and while some things worked great, they struggled in two key aspects, shooting 10 for 28 from the free-throw line and committing nearly 30 turnovers.
“The biggest thing was unforced turnovers,” says Hamilton. “We gave away too many possessions.”
The Tigers opened the game with full court pressure and before they could even get set up, Hamilton called a timeout to remind his players of their press break.
The Titans came out of the break and proceeded to shred the Tigers’ press, but struggled to turn their press break success into points.
“I thought we handled the pressure better but we couldn’t make them pay for pressing,” says Hamilton.
Noah Dumas broke the initial Titans’ dry spell with a jumper and Quinn Winter followed that up with a steal and a two-hand slam. David Wasinger drove baseline for a reverse lay-up and John Theis grabbed an offensive rebound and drained a six-foot fade-away, but Del Norte found success on offense to carry a 14-8 lead into the second quarter.
While the second quarter started well for the Titans as they pulled within four points of the Tigers, things quickly fell apart as both Winter and Joe Hayes had to sit most of the quarter with foul trouble and Del Norte outscored the Titans 20-9 to build a 34-17 lead at halftime.
 “We’ve got to learn to be able to play without those guys in,” says Hamilton. “We just started to lose our heads.”
 The Titans came out in the second half and battled toe-to-toe with the Tigers. Hayes found a seam in the Del Norte defense for a bucket, Dumas knocked down a 12-foot jumper and Winter went to work inside as the teams played even basketball through the third quarter. Unfortunately, while the offense was clicking, turnovers continued to plague Crested Butte and the Tigers held on to their 17-point lead.
“We were too aggressive and made a lot of unnecessary forced passes,” says Hamilton. “When we did get set up and ran the offense we were able to score.”
The Titans continued to see some success with Winter inside but Del Norte answered every Titans basket with one of their own, including a handful of three-pointers to put the game out of reach, beating Crested Butte 68-44. Winter finished the game with 21 points, dominating the boards, and continues the lead the league in both categories. Theis was next with seven points and Wasinger dropped in five.
“It’s just about finding consistency and making it happen for an entire game,” says Hamilton. “They know what they need to win games. The thing that I like is that there’s a lot of fight in these guys.”
The Titans headed to Center the next day to face the Vikings for a rematch of a game the Titans felt they let get away. The two teams met earlier this season, with the Vikings holding off a late-game run by Crested Butte to squeak out a one-point win, so hopes were high for Crested Butte.
 “We knew we had a chance to compete,” says Hamilton.
Unfortunately, Center came into the game on a roll and things did not play out as hoped, as the Titans fell to Center 50-36.
“We were just flat cold in that game,” says Hamilton.
While the Titans opened with getting nice looks at the basket, their shots were just not falling.
After falling behind by as many as 15 points at one point in the game, the Titans started chipping away at Center’s lead. They held Center to seven points in the third quarter and pulled to within four points of the Vikings.
But Center made some adjustments and rattled off eight quick points to force the Titans into their man-to-man defense. At that point, the Vikings opened back up on Crested Butte to seal the 50-34 win.
“They started executing really well and our man-to-man suffered terribly,” says Hamilton. “And, we weren’t doing what we needed to do on the offensive end.”
One big, bright spot came from Ryan McCudden, who knocked down a couple of three pointers to lead the team in scoring with nine points. In addition, the Titans remedied their shooting woes from the free-throw line, hitting 13 of 18.
 The Titans head to Sargent on Friday, January 30 and while they are 1-3 in the district, they still have a chance at hosting a home game in the post season.
“If we can beat Sargent and win the games we’re supposed to win, we’re looking at the number four seed in the district tournament,” says Hamilton.