Titan boys fall to Center and Sanford

Quinnsanity™

The Titans boys’ basketball team had a rough weekend at home losing a close game to Center on Friday and getting blown out by the top 2A team in the state, Sanford, on Saturday. While it would have taken a Herculean effort to stay with Sanford, the Center game was one that got away and both results came down to one major thing: Turnovers.
The Titans were primed for a win heading into their game against the Center Vikings on Friday, January 9. It would be the first time in a while that they were healthy and playing at home.
“They were really excited,” says coach Brandin Hamilton. “They were feeling good and they knew Center was a good team but they were up for the challenge.”
Crested Butte struggled on offense through the first quarter but managed to pick up some points off individual effort. Meanwhile, the Titans defense proved solid as they handcuffed the Vikings with a zone defense, holding Center to nine points in the opening quarter.
The game started to get away from the Titans in the second quarter as Center turned a three-point play and forced Crested Butte into a 10-second violation to take a 19-12 lead with two minutes left in the first half.
“The biggest thing was that we had too many empty possessions and we weren’t protecting the ball,” says Hamilton.
But the Titans responded as David Wasinger took a charge and the Titans closed the first half with a 9-0 run. The half finished with a little homegrown Quinnsanity™ as Quinn Farnell went to the line with .2 seconds left. Farnell hit one free throw and Quinn Winter grabbed the rebound on the final miss and shot only to get fouled as well. Winter hit two of two from the line with no time on the clock, giving the Titans a 21-19 lead at halftime.
“We just had a string of good possessions,” says Hamilton. “We did a good job of executing once we were in a particular offense.”
The Titans continued to execute on offense at the start of the third quarter, getting the ball to both Winter and John Theis and exploiting their size advantage inside. Theis and Winter combined for eight points but when Center shifted the pressure up court, things started to unravel for the Titans.
“They were pressing on rebounds and that really threw the guys off,” says Hamilton. “They ramped up the pressure and that was a turning point in the game.”
The pressure from the Vikings sent the Titans in a turnover tailspin and by the middle of the fourth quarter, Center was up 37-30.
Center switched to a clock-killing set on offense and Hamilton made the change to a man-to-man defense to force the issue.
Noah Dumas came up with a big steal and layup and Wasinger chased down a loose ball and tossed to Winter for another big basket, cutting Center’s lead down to two points with a minute left. The two teams traded off jabs in the final minute and Center looked to have the win locked in until Dumas hit a free throw and Winter grabbed the rebound on the second miss to score, pulling within one but time ran out as a last-second full-court Titans heave flew wide of the hoop.
“I think they responded well down the stretch and I think we outplayed them—we just ran out of time,” says Hamilton.
Winter led the Titans with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Theis added in eight but the most telling stat came in the turnovers column as the Titans committed 30 turnovers in the game.
The Titans returned to Mt. Olympus the next day to face the top 2A team in the state, the Sanford Indians. Sanford has been knocking off some bigwigs from around the state and didn’t let off the throttle against Crested Butte. Heavy pressure on the ball continued to trouble the Titans as they fell behind 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The game went from bad to worse as Wasinger hurt his ankle toward the end of the first half and Winter had to sit out most of the second quarter with three fouls.
Sanford took advantage of the depleted Titans team to build a 21-point lead by halftime and finished the game handing Crested Butte a 79-29 loss.
“We had trouble scoring because of heavy guard pressure,” says Hamilton. “It completely threw Joe [Hayes] and David off. It was a different level of play than they are used to.”
Bright spots came from Dumas and Winter. Dumas led the team with eight points and Winter had a stellar game on the glass, grabbing rebounds over one of the top players in the state.
The Titans will host the Sargent Farmers on Wednesday, January 14 and then will hit the road this weekend for a road trip to Cripple Creek.