Basalt hoops opens on road
The Aspen Times
Jim Ryan / Special to The Aspen Times |
Road trip.
The Basalt High School basketball teams will open the new season on the road.
The Basalt girls and boys teams will play at Delta tonight, with the girls varsity set for 5:30 and the boys varsity to tip at 7:30.
“The boys are really excited to play a game; I’m really excited,” said Danny Martinez, the head coach of the Basalt boys. “We’re ready to go.”
Martinez, in his second season as the Basalt head coach, said he is enjoying the second go-round with a season’s experience from a year ago. Martinez also is a former standout Basalt player who advanced to the state’s elite eight with his Longhorn teams.
“We have a lot of new faces and a few from last year,” Martinez said of the Longhorns, who feature several freshmen slated for varsity time.
Sophomore Mike Glenn is back, and his game has improved in a big way, Martinez said.
Glenn played on the BHS varsity team last year as a freshman.
Senior Adrian Lujan also is back from last season’s squad along with all-conference selection Noah Schoenberger.
“He’s a really good rebounder, Noah is,” Martinez said.
Schoenberger is a senior.
Freshman Chris Jimenez will take the floor with the varsity in tonight’s game at Class 4A Delta.
Ben Holland, from Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, also will play with the Basalt basketball team this season. CRMS does not field interscholastic basketball teams.
“We’re not big. We’re tiny again,” Martinez said. “But as long as we play hard, that’s what we want.”
He said the younger players will have to step in “right off the bat.”
Martinez said he’ll mix the veterans with the younger players to try to blend the team as they learn his systems.
“It’s good to play on the road,” he said of the chance for the team to spend time together traveling. “We’ll have a chance to talk. But it will be a long day for us.”
The team, including JV squads, will leave Basalt at 11:30 a.m. The boys varsity game likely will end about 9:30 p.m., with the Longhorns then facing the 21/2-hour return trip.
The Longhorns will host Cedaredge in their home openers on Dec. 16.
