By CJ Blaskowski and Noah Duran
23 Feb. 2016
What Happened: The Eaton High School boys basketball team (17-2, 14-2 Patriot) defeated University (4-15, 3-13 Patriot) 57-42, Tuesday Feb. 16 at Eaton High School, it was also the final home game and senior night for the Reds. The first quarter was one of the worst quarters, as a whole, since the first quarter against Estes Park on the night of Jan. 22. The Bobcats led 21-10 at the completion of the quarter. The first quarter of this game had the Reds trailing 11-8. Several turnovers and missed shots, in the game against the Bulldogs, led to an uneventful first quarter. The Reds got off to a slow start, a typical one for Dean Grable’s squad this season. The Reds recovered well in the following three quarters, but with the district and state tournaments looming, the Reds must figure out how to get off to a good start and don’t look back.The Reds executed the staple zone offense, the four-corner offense. Last time these two squads got together, the ball was held for close to five minutes by the Reds as the Bulldogs refused to get out of their zone.
By the Numbers: Breydan Stover (16) led the charge for the Reds with 14 points, Joe Mondragon (16) had 11, and Jared Foss (16) had nine points. For University High School, Noah Cordova (17) had nine and the lone senior for the Bulldogs, Austin Danhoff (16) had six points, but he got his first two fouls in the first quarter and early in the second. Dave Crespin’s Bulldogs gave the Reds all they could handle in the first half. University didn’t have the veteranship or athleticism to match the powerhouse Reds. The logical decision for the opposing, young team, was to mix up the cards defensively. Maybe a 1-3-1, or a 1-2-2 half court would’ve also worked, but the Bulldogs bench wasn’t relatively active having only two or three players deep getting into the game. The only decision then is a 2-3 zone, for underdog University as Crespin was trying to win in this decades old rivalry.
Should’ve Seen It: The game was relatively poor on the scale of viewing excitement. So this award is given to the student section. After a 50/50 call by the referees in the first half, the Eaton fans didn’t like the call and voiced their opinion. They should’ve waited for the March 10 Public Forum at Eaton High School. The Public Forum will feature the Governor’s Commission for Native American Mascots. The call was a block/charge and Eaton’s Breydan Stover (16) came in a little under control above the three point arc. The referee’s angle gave him a call that looked fitting and as a referee, knowing this is a game where both teams are gunning for each other, the charge has to be called. Even the slightest bit of lack of control, a drop of the shoulder, or even a set-up from the defensive player the charge will and should be called. However, the students have a biased view of what happened and they gave Stover the benefit of the doubt but the right call was made. On top of that, none of the students were being paid to referee or even attend. The only stripes anyone had on in the stands was a flannel shirt worn by a student.
Another Workmanlike Win for Reds: The Reds scoring only 57 points in the final regular season game represents the defense-first mentality that Dean Grable’s teams usually have. This veteran laden team has executed the gameplan well day in and day out and they have been rewarded with a 1 seed. After Platte Valley’s season sweep of Sterling (15-4, 13-3 Patriot) the Reds take the highly-coveted top seed in the Patriot League. A very well respected League in basketball and will easen up the road to the championship for the Reds.
Next Up: The Eaton Reds face the Estes Park Bobcats (6-14, 4-12 Patriot) in the second round of the Patriot League District Tournament. The Bobcats had a play-in game against the 9 seed Valley Vikings, in which they won 54-42. The 8 seed Bobcats face the 1 seed Reds Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 at the Eaton High School gym. Winner faces the winner of the Platte Valley/Strasburg game on Thursday, Feb. 25. The Bobcats gave the Reds all they could handle in the meeting of these two teams at Eaton High School earlier this year leading at halftime, 34-31.
