Titans boys’ hoops take two of three over past week

“In the end I think our speed, quickness and being quicker to the ball paid off”

By Than Acuff

The recent three-game stretch started out great for the Crested Butte Titans boys’ basketball team as they ran away to a 62-43 win over the Hayden Tigers on Thursday, January 22. Unfortunately, they struggled to carry that momentum into Trinidad on Saturday, January 24 but rebounded to take down the Gunnison Cowboys on Tuesday, January 27.

Hayden would prove to be a bit of a struggle for Crested Butte but when tested, the Titans came through when it mattered most. The two teams traded baskets through the opening five minutes of the first quarter but when Blake Bacani came onto the floor, the tide started to turn.

“He just seemed to steady the game for us, and we started to hit our shots from the six to eight-foot range,” says coach Mike Bacani.

The Titans went on a 15-3 run from the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter with John Mitchell finding success from deep and Tyus Fischer knocking down mid-range jump shots. The Tigers did eventually cut Crested Butte’s lead down to six points midway through the second quarter, but Crested Butte turned it up again. A block by Fischer turned into a layup for Owen Pugh, Pugh then knocked down two more jump shots and when Fischer stole the ball for a breakaway layup at the end of the half, Crested Butte was up 37-23.

“They were switching up defenses in the second quarter without communicating and it would take us a couple of passes to realize it and that threw us for a loop,” says Mike. “But, with just a little push we put our lead at 16 points and that made it feel like Hayden was really fighting uphill.”

Mike made an adjustment at halftime to their offense and Pugh opened the second half with a reverse layup to keep the team and hometown crowd on point. The Tigers would only get as close as 10 points in the fourth quarter before Bennett Crabtree found room to score six points in a row to quash any hopes of a Hayden comeback and seal the 62-43 win. Fischer led the Titans with 16 points, Pugh scored 15 while Crabtree finished with eight.

“In the end I think our speed, quickness and being quicker to the ball paid off,” says Mike.

The Titans then loaded the bus early Saturday morning for a long trip to Trinidad and after three quarters of solid basketball, eventually fell to Trinidad 44-42.

Things started off great for the Titans despite the long bus ride as they jumped out to a 13-4 lead with Isaac Jennings hitting from three-point range and Crabtree finding success in the paint.

“We were feeling pretty good,” says Mike.

Crested Butte put up another 13 points in the second quarter, but Trinidad adjusted to get the ball into their big man inside and managed to pull back into the game tying it 26-26 by halftime.

“It was a quiet gym and the game almost felt like a scrimmage in a way,” says Mike. “There was not as much juice in our team as I had hoped and I just told them we’re going to have to make our own energy.”

The team answered the call to build a lead, but the game then slowed down even more as both teams were fouling bringing the energy in the gym back down. Nevertheless, the Titans still finished the quarter with 13 points while holding Trinidad to seven for a 39-33 lead going into the fourth quarter.

This is when a quiet gym and a stretch of cold shooting would then spell the Titans’ demise as Trinidad would outscore the Crested Butte 11-3 in the fourth quarter to hand them a 44-42 road loss. Pugh led the team with 14 points followed by Crabtree with 12 and Jennings scored 10 points.

“It was a pretty steady game for us,” says Mike. “They didn’t do anything different, we just didn’t make any shots and didn’t stop them.”

The Titans then headed to Gunnison on Tuesday, January 27 and after building a lead on the Cowboys in the first half, Gunnison cut the Titans’ lead to three six minutes into the third quarter. That would be as close as the Cowboys would get though as the Titans’ went on a 14-2 run in the final two minutes of the third quarter to put the game out of reach and finish the Cowboys off 58-34.

Crested Butte remains embroiled in league play this week at home as they host Center on Thursday, January 29 at 7 p.m. and then Del Norte on Saturday, January 31 at 3 p.m.