Redskin men drop first game at Regionals Season ends with loss to Badgers, 63-45

by David Tesitor
FOUNTAIN, CO- The La Veta men’s basketball season ended at the hands of the Limon Badgers last Friday evening, 63-45, stopping their attempt at a storybook finish where a number-four seed advanced to the great eight. Limon entered the tournament as the number-one seed and was the fifth ranked team in the state in the final season polls.
The Skins started off slowly as the game began, overcoming their nerves and trying to get a handle on the three big men up front who stood 6’ 5”. La Veta’s trio of big men, Bradley Vigil, Matt Hammernik and Josiah Christian stood eyeball to eyeball with the group and would not be intimidated by their size. Hammernik saw limited action because of illness and was held scoreless, but was a contributing factor under the boards when he was on the court.
According to Coach Kreutzer, “We were able to match up with them evenly, but we couldn’t find the net.” The Redskins shot less than 30% from the field; otherwise the game would have been closer than the final score indicated. A single digit second and third quarter put the game away, forcing the La Veta men to take the outside shots trying to make something happen.
Christian was the team’s leading scorer with 19, well ahead of his season average of 15.4 points per game. Christian finished the season with 339 points and 161 rebounds. Christian also had 28 blocked shots on the season and 65 steals. John Brunelli, who averaged 7 points a game this season, came in with 11 for the night.
The three seniors on the team include Christian, Hammernik and Jared Ray, who was a rookie basketball player this season. Their talents will be missed, but the upcoming stable of juniors will be the new team leaders. They include John Brunelli, Clancey Kreutzer, Brandon Morgan, Evan Arnold and Bradley Vigil. The sophomores include Kyon Kreutzer, Zac Brunelli and Dylan Sporich.