The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“A real foundation is in place”
Slowly but surely the Titan boy’s basketball team pulled their act together and unleashed on the Cotopaxi Pirates to win their final home game of the season in mighty Mt. Olympus. Unfortunately, just as it appeared the young team was peaking, they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
It was a dubious start to the final week of regular season play for the Titans as they fell to the Custer County Bobcats 55-33 on Monday, February 17.
Still, the Titans were determined to close out Mt. Olympus with a bang as they faced Cotopaxi on Thursday, February 20.
The Titans fell behind early 6-1 before coach Brandin Hamilton called a timeout to settle his team. The Titans returned to the court to finish the quarter, scoring the final four points to pull within one.
The teams traded baskets through the second quarter but the Titans’ offense was still a bit out of sync. While they were getting good looks at the basket, shots weren’t falling. Fortunately, their defense was doing an adequate job of holding the Pirates offense at bay and the Titans carried a 14-12 lead into halftime.
“We were able to execute and get good looks but we couldn’t get any secondary looks,” says Hamilton. “Lots of standing around.”
Hamilton decided to ramp up the pressure on Cotopaxi in the third quarter to see if he could get them to break. The plan worked and Quinn Winter got hot, mixing in three-pointers with buckets inside as the Titans outscored Cotopaxi 21-12 in the third quarter to build a 35-24 lead.
“I did a lot of switching defenses to see if we could rattle them and it worked,” says Hamilton. “Our defense then led to our offense opening up.”
Tommy Rainville opened the fourth quarter cutting to the hoop for two, and David Wasinger drained a three-pointer on their next possession and the Titans rolled to a 56-37 win.
Winter had his best game of the season on offense, leading all scorers with 29 points. Grant Johnson added in nine and a couple more players tacked on four points each.
“They played with the same intensity and just kind of steamrolled,” says Hamilton.
The Titans finished the regular season in Del Norte on Saturday and while hopes were high, injuries and foul trouble eventually spelled the Titans’ demise.
The two teams finished the first quarter locked in a 10-10 tie but Joe Hayes had to sit the second quarter with shin splints and Winter was sidelined with three fouls. Del Norte seized the opportunity with full court pressure on the Titans and outscored the Titans 18-6 in the second quarter.
Hamilton still felt like the game was within reach and the Titans defense stepped up in the third quarter to hold Del Norte to three points but Crested Butte’s offense continued to struggle, scoring only four points.
Crested Butte opened the fourth quarter with their 1-2-2-halfcourt pressure and started chipping away at the lead, but time ran out on the Titans as they fell 37-30.
“The second quarter just killed us,” says Hamilton. “Unless something crazy happens, it’s hard to close that gap.”
The Titans season then came to a close on Monday, February 24 in the opening round of the post-season. The Titans hit the road to face the Custer County Bobcats once again.
The Bobcats are a tough team to handle with three legitimate scorers on the floor and midway through the first quarter, the Bobcats were leading 13-0 and the hometown fans were going wild. Following Hamilton’s second timeout, things turned for the Bobcats as the Titans scored the next 13 points, closing the first quarter tied 13-13.
“It was a crazy first quarter,” says Hamilton. “Things got tight in that building. It went from partying like it was Mardi Gras to game on.”
The Titans took control of the game in the second quarter, paced by their defense and strong shooting from Wasinger and Rainville. But the Bobcats pulled out a 2-3-zone defense to slow the Titans down and by halftime, Crested Butte was sitting precariously on a one-point lead.
Custer County stuck with their zone defense to handcuff the Titans but Crested Butte kept plugging away and was three points down at the start of the fourth quarter. But the Bobcats turned it on in the fourth and after they hit a big three-pointer, the crowd was back in the game and Custer County closed out the 52-35 win, ending the Titan season.
Wasinger had his best game of the season, leading the Titans with 15 points and Rainville added in a season-high 11.
“It was an unbelievable season,” says Hamilton. “Some really great things happened this year. A real foundation is in place. Offenses are in, set and trusted. Defense is in, set and trusted and a core of players are coming back.”
