Eagle Valley hoops return, beat Huskies, 50-30
Welcome back, boys
The Devils still remembered how to play basketball.
It apparently still involves dribbling, shooting, passing and the like.
After a two-week layoff due to COVID-19 protocol, Eagle Valley boys basketball returned to action with an emphatic 50-30 win over archrival, Battle Mountain, on Monday night in Edwards.
“We haven’t had a single practice, a single team anything,” Eagle Valley coach Justin Brandt said.
“It was super fun,” the Devils’ Eric Hasley said. “It was so great being back, hanging out together as a team and just playing well.”
Support Local Journalism
The Devils last played on Feb. 13 at Summit and were set to play Rifle three days later. At 9 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 15, the evening before a planned game against Rifle, Eagle Valley got the call that it was quarantined.
And so they waited for two weeks and reassembled on Monday. And just like powdered eggs, one adds water and, voila, we’ve got a basketball team again.
“Let’s be honest, we’ve been preaching the national guard, train on your own,” Brandt said. “I’m really proud of them bringing this sort of effort.”
There was the sloppiness one would expect from a game between a team that had been sitting for two weeks and another that is struggling.
The Devils (3-4 overall and 2-4 in the Slope), nonetheless, had some sparkly moments, including building a 13-3 advantage during the first quarter.
Carlos Sanchez and Nikko Von Stralendorff started the game with 3s. Sanchez added another 3-point play, while Hasley, who was just instant energy on the court on Tuesday, and Matt Garvey also added buckets.
With this being the first of four game this week — Eagle Valley is smashing as much as it can into the final week of the regular season — coach Justin Brandt starting subbing in liberally to save his players’ legs.
Eagle Valley is at Steamboat Springs on Tuesday then home for Glenwood Springs on Friday and Summit on Saturday. Brandt figures that the Devils need to have a very good week to make a playoff push. Get the brooms out, boys.
At 0-11, it is getting dark for Battle Mountain. The Huskies finish the season with Palisade tonight, at Steamboat Springs on Thursday and home for Glenwood Springs on Saturday, desperately searching for that first win.
