The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Road Warriors
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans boys’ basketball team fell to both Gunnison and Cotopaxi last week but finished on a high note rolling to a resounding win over Hayden on Monday, February 17. The team remains on the road this week with games in Leadville, Sargent and South Park.
It all started on Tuesday, February 12 as the Titans headed down valley to face the Gunnison Cowboys. The Titans were looking to avenge a loss to the Cowboys earlier in the season, but it would be a tall order in Gunnison’s gym.
“The atmosphere was great,” says coach Mike Bacani. “I just told the boys to feed off the atmosphere.”
While the Titans did keep the game from getting too far out of hand, they lost starting senior Luke Jennings to an injury midway through the first half yet continued to battle with players called into action.
“We really missed him, it definitely had an impact,” says Bacani.
The Cowboys took a 25-21 lead into the third quarter, but the Titans chipped away at it and took a 26-25 lead on a basket from Bridger Flores and a three-pointer by Adin Kurak. The Cowboys responded with a 16-4 run and would close out the 60-44 win in the fourth quarter. Kurak finished the game leading the Titans with 26 points.
“We could never really get out front and get comfortable,” says Bacani.
Crested Butte hoped to rebound at home when they were set to host Lake County on Friday, February 14 but the storm prevented Lake County from traveling so the Titans had to switch gears to prepare for another road game on Saturday in Cotopaxi.
“We had a light practice and did some light film study,” says Bacani.
Crested Butte then hit the road to face the Cotopaxi Pirates who brought a significant challenge for the Titans. Not only would Crested Butte be missing starters Jennings and Flores for the game, but the Pirates like to run and gun and have three players taller than Crested Butte’s tallest player.
“It was a tall order for us,” says Bacani. “They just want to get out and run and dunk on you and make a statement, so we had to play good defense and get back on defense quickly.”
The Titans followed the game plan in place from the opening tip. They battled the Pirates underneath on defense, on the boards and prevented them from getting up the court for easy buckets while executing on offense. Both Kurak and Eli Hulm dropped in three-pointers and Owen Pugh found a seam through the land of giants to score to pull within one of the Pirates by the end of the first quarter.
The Titans defense continued to keep the Pirates off balance and Bennett Crabtree then slipped a pass to Tyus Fischer inside for two more to open the second quarter. Kurak and Pugh each scored to then help the Titans build a 20-14 lead forcing Cotopaxi to call a timeout midway through the second quarter.
“We’re now able to switch defenses without calling a timeout forcing Cotopaxi to call timeouts,” says Bacani.
Cotopaxi did manage to recover a bit and score following the timeout, but the Titans continued to answer back and took a 24-21 lead into halftime.
“We held them to 21 points in the first half and that’s outstanding,” says Bacani. “Our offense was moving like we wanted and we got a lot of shots that we wanted to get and Bennett rebounded like a madman.”
The back-and-forth battle continued throughout the third quarter but when Kurak and Hulm opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-pointers, Crested Butte was out front 38-33. Unfortunately, out of nowhere, the Titans went cold, and Cotopaxi managed to pull back into the game and eventually escape with a 46-38 win. Kurak finished with 18 points, Pugh scored eight and Hulm and Fischer dropped in six points each.
“We were getting great looks, they just stopped falling in,” says Bacani. “Still, the message after the game was that we can compete with anybody, and everyone gave everything they had. We’ve reached a point in the season where the kids are bought in and doing what needs to be done.”
The Titans returned home Saturday night and then boarded back on the bus Monday, February 17 to face the Hayden Tigers. While the Tigers had managed to keep some of their games close, the Titans looked to impose their will on Hayden and after a slow start down 7-6 midway through the first quarter, Crested Butte unleashed on Hayden.
The Titans finished the first quarter with a 12-1 run with Kurak, Fischer and Hulm all scoring while Crabtree continued his rebounding ways and continued to pour it on in the second quarter for a 37-15 lead at halftime. They closed the third quarter up 56-22 and finished with a 67-26 win. Kurak led all scorers with 25 points with Hulm having his top scoring effort of the season dropping in 22 points.
“It was a good opportunity to get some of the players back on track,” says Bacani.
The Titans continue their road tripping ways as they face Lake County in Leadville and close out the regular season with games in Sargent and South Park Friday and Saturday, February 21-22.
