Eagle Valley boys basketball breaks skid; beats Moffat
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Welcome to the win column, Eagle Valley boys basketball. It’s been a while.
Eagle Valley snapped what was officially a 26-game losing streak, dating back to Feb. 6, 2014, with a 58-46 victory over Moffat County on Thursday up at the Steamboat Shoot Out Tournament.
“What I like is that they celebrated, but they know they’ve got work to do tomorrow,” first-year Devils coach Chris Walls said. “As a coaching staff, we’re excited to get that one under our belt and start a new streak. I’m excited for the families of the kids and the kids. They’ve been working hard for this and they deserve it.”
The Devils (1-3) got close to that long-awaited W last weekend at the Brenda Patch Tournament in Roaring Fork last weekend in a 41-40 loss to Aspen. On Thursday, Eagle Valley got things going after a rough first quarter and took control.
The Bulldogs led the Devils, 14-11, after eight minutes.
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“We didn’t know much about Moffat, but we thought they might be susceptible to the transition game,” Walls said. “We weren’t executing in the first half, and just called a timeout and took a breather. We made a couple of adjustments and our transition game keyed us.”
Arturo Loera led the Devils with 21 points and Jimmy Murphy knocked down 13 points. All in all, Eagle Valley was 6-for-11 from 3-point land.
Dawson Keller led the effort in the paint with 10 rebounds.
For the historians in the audience, the last time the Devils left the court on the right side of the scoreboard was 50-43 win at Battle Mountain toward the end of the 2013-14 season. Travis Edgar had 16 points, while Noah Ejnes had 11.
Eagle Valley continues the Steamboat Shoot Out with Elizabeth today at 2:45 p.m.
Devils girls top Frederick
So how do you replace all those minutes after Mariel Gutierrez, Taylor Martin, Carly Volkmer and Jessie Chambers graduated?
So far, so good for Eagle Valley girls basketball.
The kids are stepping up and the Devils are 3-1 after a 50-40 win over Frederick on Thursday at Steamboat.
“It’s really good for us to build experience,” Devils coach Sam Bartlett said. “The first six (preseason) games, I wanted to see who was going to go into roles and fill in minutes.”
The first piece of that puzzle seems to be junior Kylie Martin. She’s on a bit of tear and had 30 points and 12 rebounds against Frederick. (Those aren’t season highs, which is kind of scary. Martin had 34 and 12 against Central last weekend.)
Regan Bossow had nine points and Victoria Schwaiger had eight.
The Devils led Frederick, 31-13 at the half.
“We were poised. We were fast-paced, but not hurried,” Bartlett said, summoning his inner John Wooden.
Eagle Valley plays Discover Canyon tonight at 7:45 up in Steamboat.
Huskies fall
Battle Mountain boys basketball was on the wrong side of a 20-4 second-quarter run in a 60-42 loss to Northridge on Thursday up at the Steamboat Shoot Out. The guys face Roosevelt today at 4:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Huskies girls basketball team dropped a 48-45 decision to Prairie View. The ladies take on Frederick today.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.