The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Home game Friday, January 19
By Than Acuff
Coach Hannes Gerhing sees a different team than in past years and it’s starting to show not just in practices but also on the floor in games as the Crested Butte Titans boys basketball team returned to play last weekend with a win over the Telluride Miners.
The latest holiday break and first game after the break were prime examples of what Gehring is seeing. The holiday break, including mandatory no-practice dates, can often thwart any progress made during the opening weeks of the season.
“The break is just really long and it’s challenging to come back from it and be ready fitness-wise,” says Gehring.
Coaches of winter sports have tried different things to try and minimize the impact and this season Gehring and his staff tried something new offering a series of optional practices during the break. What ensued proved he’s got a different team this year as all but one player made it to every optional practice.
“It was really encouraging that we have that level of commitment,” says Gehring. “It allowed us to be more aggressive with conditioning because we had two weeks instead of one week before a game. They’re really bought in to how important fitness is.”
While Crested Butte cruised to a 20-point win over Telluride early in the season, Gehring expected something different from Telluride when the two teams met again on Saturday, January 13.
“We expected a battle,” says Gehring. “They match up with us pretty well.”
The Titans have been working toward a more up-tempo style of play and looked to continue that effort against Telluride though it took a bit to get it going.
“Early on we were walking the ball up the court but as the game progressed, they started owning that more and more,” says Gehring.
The Titans built an 18-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and while some aspects of their game still fell short of the hopes of the coaching staff, others took massive steps forward and the Titans were up 39-26 at halftime.
“We improved in several areas, but you could tell we hadn’t played a game in three weeks,” says Gehring.
The third quarter provided another challenge for Crested Butte as the Miners started chipping away at the Titans’ lead cutting their 16-point advantage down to nine when Gehring called a timeout. A couple of adjustments were made, players moved to new spots, and the Titans came out of the break to score in five of their next six possessions as Adin Kurak and Weston Miller found success with Riley Davis working as the point guard and took back control of the game.
“That was a back breaker,” says Gehring. “I felt like we had an answer. The boys were poised and confident and didn’t get flustered when Telluride made a run.”
Crested Butte carried that confidence through the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on the 73-59 win. Miller led all players on the floor with a double-double scoring 24 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Kurak scored 21 points and dished out seven assists, but it was Davis’ stat line that impressed Gehring the most as he had 17 points and eight rebounds but, most importantly, no turnovers.
“Top to bottom, utterly complete game for Riley,” says Gehring. “Especially considering he played half of the game at center and half of the game at point guard.”
Eli Hulm added in 10 points as well bringing four players to double-digit scoring.
“That’s a good sign when you’re that balanced,” says Gehring.
He does admit he was not that happy with giving up 59 points and that the team shot six of 16 from the free throw line but overall, he sees something big building in his team.
“There’s a legitimate confidence brewing,” says Gehring.
The Titans were scheduled to continue non-league play on Tuesday, January 16 hosting the Gunnison Cowboys. However, the game was cancelled due to a gas evacuation at the school. See story on page 6.
They open league play on Friday, January 19 when they host the Center Vikings in mighty Mount Olympus, tip-off is at 7 p.m.
