La Veta- The La Veta Redskins hosted the Del Norte Tigers Tuesday night in the first round of district action. From the beginning, the Skins dominated Del Norte and defeated them soundly 83-59. They will face Sargent in the opening round of District play tonight at 8:00 in the Adams State Field House. The top four seeds in the tournament will advance to Regional play March 6-7. The Skins are assured a spot at Regional play. They must win to advance to the sweet 16 then onto the ‘Great 8’ on March 12-13. The time and opponent has not been determined.
La Veta opened up a 7-0 lead before the Tigers came back with a pair of 3-point shots. This was as close as the Tigers got. After Del Norte initial surge, Dalton Mason turned hot under the boards, out rebounding the smaller Tigers, creating points and executing a fast-break offense that opened up an 11-3 point run. Coach Kreutzer rotated players from the bench to keep his starters fresh, a strategy that the team used often this season. Josiah Christian and Clancey Kreutzer were effective on both sides of the ball helping to control the fast-break offense and man-to-man pressure. La Veta forced six turnovers in the 1st quarter alone which were quickly converted to points. The skins exploded offensively in the 1st quarter with 31 points, pulling away from the defenseless Tigers early. Most of La Veta’s points came from underneath. Most of Del Nortes points came from the three-point range in the first quarter. They would hit a total 9 shots from the outside in the game. Otherwise, the Redskin defense shut down the smaller Tigers. By the end of the 1st, it became apparent La Veta would be moving on to Regional action.
Overall, Dalton Mason was hot under the boards, dominating both offensive and defense rebounds. Twelve of his fifteen points came from underneath, including two reverse lay-ups
Their domination continued throughout the rest of the game. La Veta was hot from the charity line, going 4 of 5 in the first half and 11 of 15 overall. Free throws have been a problem all season long for the Skins, but the past two weeks, they have become dangerous from the line. At half, the skins were in complete control. 47-33.
Throughout the game, the Skins gelled as a team, with on-target passes, multiple assists and controlling a fast break with ease. One particular play, Jon Christian stole the ball, drove the ball down court and dunked it home to the delight of the fans. Another play, Mason was setting up the next offensive play could not decide where to go. He popped in a shot from about 30 feet for three. That was the way the evening went for La Veta; good, consistent play from every member of the team. Everyone say action and everyone contributed to the victory. According to Coach Kreutzer, “If we can play like that every night, we should reach state.”
The Skins high scorer was Mason with 15 followed by the Christian brothers with 14.
