The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
On to the big show
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans boys’ basketball team won four of their last five games, including two games during the District Tournament, to bump up to the 21st seed and will face Fowler on Friday, March 7 in the first round of the 2A state tournament.
The Titans entered the District tournament with one main thing on their minds, revenge, as they would face the Custer County Bobcats, in Custer’s gym, in the opening round on Tuesday, February 25 and most likely face two other opponents who had beaten the Titans during the regular season.
“We wanted to avenge losses from earlier this season, and it started with Custer County,” says head coach Mike Bacani. “They came into our place and beat us.”
Crested Butte embraced their revenge mentality in the opening quarter, but the Bobcats answered back feeding off their hometown crowd as the two teams traded buckets. The main difference coming in the shot selection as three-pointers from Adin Kurak, Owen Pugh and Eli Hulm helped the Titans edge in front and Kurak finished the first quarter with a buzzer beating baseline jumper for a 16-9 lead.
Custer County pulled within two points of the Titans in the second quarter, but Luke Jennings joined the bomb show by Crested Butte with a three-pointer and when Kurak scored four more points, the Titans held onto a six-point lead at halftime.
Tyus Fisher then started finding openings inside and while the Bobcats prevented Crested Butte from putting the game out of reach, the Titans got another late quarter boost when Kurak knocked down a three-pointer to close the third quarter for a 40-29 Titans’ lead.
An erratic three minutes by the Titans to start the fourth quarter allowed Custer County to pull within one point, but the Titans settled in and did what needed to be done to close out the game for a 51-46 win. Kurak led the Titans with 25 points all the while defending Custer’s top scorer. Hulm scored eight points while Fisher dropped in seven.
“The biggest thing for us was defensive intensity, we held a very athletic team to 46 points in their gym,” says Bacani. “That was one of the cleanest games we’d played all year.”
Crested Butte then returned to the road to head to Sanford to face the Mustangs on Thursday, February 27. Avenging an earlier loss to Sanford would prove tougher than Custer County as the Mustangs are ranked in the top 10 in the state and were 9-1 on the home court heading into the game.
“Sanford was a tall order at their place, this time of the year,” says Bacani.
And while Crested Butte went toe-to-toe with Sanford through the first half, the Mustangs outscored the Titans 23-10 in the third quarter to pull away and continued their ways to finish off the Titans 65-48. Kurak finished again leading the Titans with another 25 points.
“Adin took over scoring four straight baskets, but I looked at the scoreboard and we hadn’t made a dent in their lead,” says Bacani. “That’s what they do. They put a run on you and hold you at arm’s length. We put up nearly 50 at their place so we can score with anybody, but we have to take care of things at the other end of the court.”
The loss sent the Titans to Monte Vista for the final game of the District Tournament where they met the Center Vikings, another team who had taken down the Titans earlier this season. While the game was for third place at the District Tournament, it also had state tournament implications as a win could bump the Titans up in the seedings while a loss would drop them down making for a tougher first round opponent.
Crested Butte made a statement in their final District game in the first five minutes of the game jumping out to a 12-0 lead with three-pointers coming from Kurak and Bridger Flores and a bucket inside from Fisher. Center called a timeout to regroup and started clawing back into the game, but Jennings found room in the paint as well to score for a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams struggled to score in the second quarter with Hulm and Flores providing the points for Crested Butte and while the Vikings did pull to within five points of the Titans in the third quarter, baskets from Kurak and Hulm helped rebuild the Titans’ 10-point lead to finish with a 44-30 win. Kurak finished with another 20+ point effort with additional points coming from Flores, Jennings and Hulm.
“Defensively we were stout,” says Bacani. “Offensively, we did what we needed to do.”
Kurak finished the District Tournament averaging 25 points per game and was voted first team all-conference, Hulm made the second team and Fisher was named honorable mention.
The two wins bumped Crested Butte up from 29th to the 21st seed and they open the state tournament on the road against Fowler on Friday, March 7. A win there will send them to most likely face Plateau Valley the next day, the fifth seeded team in 2A. A loss ends the Titans’ season.
“Fowler’s a good matchup for us,” says Bacani. “Everyone’s 0-0 now, we just gotta keep winning.”