The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Every team is a monster now”
[ by Than Acuff ]
It was a wild ride for the Crested Butte Titans boys basketball team through the district tournament winning the opening round game against Center before dropping the next two to Lake County and Del Norte. Regardless, thanks to a strong regular season, the Titans remain alive in the post season and are headed to the first round of the 2A state tournament on Friday, March 4 to face Peyton High School.
It was a scary start to the district tournament when they hosted the Center Vikings on Tuesday, February 22 in mighty Mt. Olympus. The Titans handled the Vikings during regular season play fairly easily but Center was on a mission in the post season. Paced by the hot hand of two of their guards and some erratic play from the Titans, Center was ahead 22-19 by halftime.
“Center came out motivated and hungry and surprised us a bit in the first half,” says coach Hannes Gehring.
Things started to slip even more at the start of the third quarter as Center built a quick eight-point lead but Crested Butte turned their game around and started to pull back in. Jamis Matlock hit a big three point shot to spark the resurgence, Erik Wasinger knocked down two three pointers and Jacob Bernholtz followed on a missed shot to score putting the Titans on top 37-36 heading into the fourth quarter.
Gehring then looked to Wasinger and Bernholtz to shut down Center’s two hot shooters and with Grayson White picking off passes and crashing the boards, the Titans started to pull away.
“Jacob came out with an attitude and defensive presence that was really impactful and once we put Erik on their other shooter he never scored again,” says Gehring.
Alan Prieto and Wasinger combined for a series of three pointers, White started scoring inside the paint as well and when Crested Butte picked off a pass and fed Wasinger for a two-handed slam in traffic, the deal was done as the Titans outscored Center 22-6 in the fourth quarter to finish with a 59-42 win. Wasinger finished the game with 28 points, White scored 14 and Prieto added in 12.
“We had more gas left and our seniors really stepped up and refused to lose,” says Gehring. “The kids did a great job. When we were down eight, they stayed in there and clawed back into the game.”
The win sent the Titans to the district semifinal where they met Lake County on Thursday, February 24. Gehring and the team knew they were in for a dogfight with Lake County and the game played out as such with the teams matching each other’s pace from one end of the court to the other.
Eventually Crested Butte built a seven-point lead with two minutes left in the game but turnovers and the hot hands of the Lake County shooters soon had the game tied 57-57 and headed into overtime.
Lake County would eventually have the last say as they got the ball with the game tied 65-65 and eight seconds left on the clock. They looked to their perimeter once again to knock down the shot and finish off Crested Butte 67-65. Wasinger finished the game with 40 points.
“That was a game where I didn’t coach at my best,” says Gehring. “The kids played their hearts out. In the end I was proud of my guys.”
Two days later the Titans fell in the district consolation game to Del Norte 50-36 with White leading the team with 12 points, Prieto scoring 11 and Wasinger 10. In the end, the two losses had little impact on paper as Crested Butte is onto the regional tournament as the 21st seed and will face Peyton on Friday, March 4.
“Every team is a monster now,” says Gehring. “It’s just special to be a part of regionals. We’re one of 32 teams who are still playing.”
