Boys basketball drops two over weekend

“You have to do everything right to even have a chance”

[  by Than Acuff  ]

The Crested Butte Titans boys basketball team won their fourth game in a row when they took down the Ouray Trojans last week, but they hit a wall in their next two games as they fell to the Sanford Mustangs and the Cotopaxi Pirates Friday and Saturday, February 3-4.

It wasn’t the prettiest opening to their match up with Ouray. A series of mental mistakes and turnovers early allowed the Trojans to take a 9-7 lead in the first quarter, but the game almost immediately turned in Crested Butte’s favor in the second quarter as they outscored the Trojans 17-4 to build a 24-13 lead by halftime.

“We just came out with lack-luster energy, we were watching the game happen,” says coach Hannes Gehring. “As soon as the second quarter started, we were just a different team.”

The Titans’ press set the pace in the second quarter as Crested Butte forced turnovers and followed those up with easy baskets to pull ahead. The teams traded baskets through the third quarter, but Crested Butte ramped it up again in the fourth quarter to outscore Ouray 28-11 and finish them off 66-38. Porter Donahue led the team with 16 points with Ben Barney scoring 13 and Jamis Matlock nine points.

“We just started imposing our will,” says Gehring. “It was good to get the win.”

With four wins in a row, the Titans faced their toughest opponent of the season when they hosted Sanford on Friday, February 3. Sanford had reached the 2A state final the previous year and had their top two players returning, one of whom appeared to have grown another two inches since last year. 

“After winning four in a row confidence is always high but we knew we had a really big challenge ahead of us,” says Gehring.

Confidence carried the Titans through the opening minutes as Kason Cox scored the first eight points for Crested Butte with Barney adding in a free throw and Crested Butte was matching up well to start off. But Sanford stuck to their plan and continued to get the ball inside to their big guy for baskets while occasionally hitting a three-pointer to close the first quarter with an 11-0 run.

Sanford abused their size advantage inside to continue scoring and while the Titans refused to give in, Sanford was imposing their will at both ends of the court to pull ahead 37-19 by the half.

“We didn’t have a lot of answers for their big guy, and they put a ton of defensive pressure on us,” says Gehring. 

Cox, Riley Davis and Weston Miller all found success on offense to open the third quarter, but Sanford started hitting shots from deep as well to keep pulling away and eventually taking down the Titans 73-40. Cox finished the game with a team-leading 10 points.

“You have to do everything right to even have a chance,” says Gehring. “Strategy needs to be cohesive from coach to player to execution and I’m not sure I got the boys as prepared as I could have.”

But it didn’t end there as the Titans had to get on the bus the next day to travel to Cotopaxi to face one of the top 1A programs in the state.

“We knew they were going to be good,” says Gehring.

And they were as the Pirates built a 31-19 lead by halftime leaving the Titans in a similar hole as the previous night.

Things didn’t get much better for Crested Butte in the third quarter either. Despite their efforts up and down the court, the Pirates maintained a 14-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

“Our energy was incredible, and we had a specific plan and executed it really well,” says Gehring. “We just couldn’t buy a basket to save our life.”

At that point, Gehring saw a look on his players’ faces he hadn’t seen yet and used the break to turn them around.

“The boys just looked defeated,” says Gehring. “I just told them if we keep doing what we’re doing, we chip away and we’re back in the game.”

The Titans did just that as they slowly but surely started to pull back into the game. In addition, shots started falling as Crested Butte knocked down five three-pointers with two from Davis and one each from Ben Barney, Porter Donahue and then a final one from Matlock. Unfortunately, time ran out on the Titans, and they eventually lost 57-56. Barney led the way with 13 points while Matlock tacked on 12.

“It was pretty crazy to come back like that,” says Gehring. “Our desire and will to not quit is stronger than any team I’ve ever coached.”

The Titans look to bounce back from their two-game skid with games against Ridgway and Del Norte and then a home game on Saturday, February 11 when they host Monte Vista at 2 p.m.