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Basalt boys basketball returns from break with impressive rout of Rams

Roaring Fork girls still perfect with easy win over Longhorns

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Austin Colbert

Basalt High School's Luke Williams, center, makes a pass to teammate Sawyer Harrington against Roaring Fork basketball on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, inside the BHS gymnasium.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Film study went well for the Basalt High School boys basketball team this week, as Saturday’s rematch against Roaring Fork went even better than the first.

“We were able to get it into the paint and get into the short corner and gaps a little bit more earlier on this game than last game,” BHS coach Clint Hunter said. “It was great to see the growth on that part.”

The Longhorns returned from their holiday break on Saturday with a 65-43 home win over the Rams inside the BHS gymnasium. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for Basalt, whose last win came Dec. 6 at Roaring Fork, 55-46. The teams aren’t scheduled to play again this season.

Basalt led from the start on Saturday, building a 34-24 lead by the halftime break. It was a dominant third quarter on both sides of the ball that allowed the Longhorns to pull away for the relatively easy win.

“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime on the defensive end, and we were able to do that on the fly without practicing it, which I think showed great maturity from our guys,” Hunter said.


“It’s a funny game where we never really felt comfortable until we got it to about the 20 range,” he continued. “They have about four or five kids that can hit at any time, and they have high energy … we were happy with what we were doing, but we just couldn’t get over that hump until the end of the third quarter.”

The loss dropped Roaring Fork to 5-3 overall and snapped their three-game win streak. It was the Rams’ first game since beating Brush on Dec. 14. Next, they will open Class 3A Western Slope League play on Friday with a home game against North Fork.

Basalt, which has faced a challenging schedule to date, improved to 4-4 overall. BHS began the season 3-0 before losing four straight ahead of the break. Forge Christian and Peak to Peak were among the teams to beat the Longhorns during that stretch.

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Basalt next plays on Tuesday at Montrose, another challenging non-league contest. BHS will open 4A WSL play on Friday against Moffat County.

“We’ve played some really good competition,” Hunter said. “Obviously, you don’t want to lose those, but it helps you prepare and get used to the speed and physicality of what we’ll hopefully see in the postseason.”

In the girls game on Saturday, Roaring Fork stayed unbeaten with a 75-16 rout of Basalt. The Rams are 8-0 heading into Friday’s league opener against North Fork.

The BHS girls fell to 2-7 overall after also playing Friday night, a 61-26 loss to Grand Junction. The Longhorn girls also play Tuesday at Montrose.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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