The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Big home game this Friday
by Than Acuff
Inconsistent play continues to hamper the Crested Butte Titans boys basketball team, as they fell to both Del Norte and Center this past weekend.
The Del Norte Tigers were a bit of a mystery despite coach Brandin Hamilton’s rigorous attention to scouting. The Tigers lost seven seniors to graduation last year and from what Hamilton saw of the underclassmen last season, he expected an opponent in a rebuilding phase. Then again, they had just handed one of the weaker league opponents a thumping loss.
“It didn’t seem like they were going to be totally reloaded,” says Hamilton. “But they had just beat Sargent by 27 so they had some scorers.”
As a result, the Titans entered the match-up on Friday, January 22 with reserved confidence as they were fresh off a big win, but were missing starter Noah Dumas to injury.
Ultimately, the Titans found that Del Norte, while a bit soft defensively, was an offensive powerhouse and Crested Butte was unable to match them point-for-point.
Del Norte jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and continued to push as the Titans struggled at both ends of the court, eventually falling behind 37-16 by halftime.
“They’re a good ‘drive and kick’ team and we’ve been struggling with that all season,” explains Hamilton. “We just couldn’t stop them from scoring. They’ve got some serious offensive weapons and got on a roll and everything fell apart by halftime.”
The Tigers maintained their pace throughout the second half to hand the Titans a 58-37 loss. John Theis led the Titans in scoring with 14 points, followed by David Wasinger with six.
The Titans returned home to mighty Mt. Olympus to host the Center Vikings on Saturday, January 23 looking to avenge a punishing loss to the Vikings earlier this season.
Those hopes were quickly dashed as Center jumped all over Crested Butte in the first quarter. While Wasinger proved effective on the offensive boards, Theis and Jacob Munroe found seams to the hoop and Ryan McCudden closed the quarter with a steal to drain a three-pointer, the Vikings offense was prolific in their attack to build a 23-9 lead.
“Center was just doing what they do,” says Hamilton. “I think they scored every time they touched the ball.”
Remarkably, despite the first quarter pounding and the loss of Joseph Cummins to a nagging injury, a different Titans team took the floor in the second quarter. McCudden opened the quarter with another three-pointer, Theis and Wasinger knocked down a couple of free throws and Theis was able to pull down some offensive boards and score as the Titans outscored Center in the second quarter to cut their lead down to 11.
“That’s part of our inconsistency,” says Hamilton. “Those first two quarters showed both sides of our team. We definitely held them down and I don’t think any team has managed to hold them like that this season. We went into halftime feeling like we could climb back into the game.”
The back-breaker came in the opening 30 seconds of the second half as Center started it off by burying a three-pointer and then stealing the ball and scoring. Theis did drop in four more points in the paint but the Vikings were back on track to rebuild a 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Center remained hot through the fourth and poured it on to eventually down the Titans 69-37 with the one bright spot in the final eight minutes coming from Jovany Aguirre, who came onto the floor in the final two minutes to drain a three.
“It’s just inconsistency that’s hurting us,” says Hamilton. “They got those two quick buckets and there was the ball game. That’s how tenuous things can be.”
Crested Butte has a big home game coming up this Friday, January 29 when they host the Sargent Farmers. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. The Farmers are in a similar situation as the Titans and Hamilton hopes to see the team turn the season around, starting with a home win over Sargent.
“This one is big,” says Hamilton. “Looking at how they play and how we play, we’ve got a great opportunity to beat them and if we win this one, we actually have a chance at a home playoff game.”
