Evanston boys’ basketball coach Lex Cornia didn’t sugarcoat Thursday nigh't 64-56 loss against Fort Collins in the opening round of the Cheyenne Invitational.
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CHEYENNE – Evanston boys’ basketball coach Lex Cornia didn’t sugarcoat Thursday nigh't 64-56 loss against Fort Collins in the opening round of the Cheyenne Invitational.
“Obviously, we wanted to come out and play better,” Cornia said following the game. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been on the floor. We’ve been practicing against each other. We thought we might have some rust. We didn’t expect it to that level.”
Evanston is tied for fourth in the Class 4A Wyopreps Coaches and Media Boys Basketball Pool, which was last released Dec. 20.
With Thursday's loss to Fort Collins, the Red Devils are 5-2 on the year. But Evanston isn’t panicking about that record.
“We want to see how they respond when things weren’t easy,” Cornia said. “It’s been a long time since we played. If that’s our worst game of the season, on January fourth, I hope it doesn’t get worse than that. We want to play our best basketball in March.”
Evanston senior Chase Crichfield scored 17 points, while Braxton Hiatt added 14 points, all in the second half. Lance Evans chipped in with10 points.
The Red Devils had a 10-8 lead after the first quarter, but Evanston was outscored 18-5 in the second frame as Fort Collins extended its lead to 26-15 lead entering the break. Crithfield scored all the points for the Red Devils in the second period.
“That was just rust,” Cornia said. “We have had some very intensive practices. But it’s not the same. You need to play against another varsity team to keep your edge, and we haven’t been able to recreate that over the last two and a half weeks.”
Evanston outscored Fort Collins 21-15 in the third quarter, but Fort Collins was ready for another late surge. Fort Collins outscored the Red Devils 23-20 to put the game away.
“We learned from it, and we are going to fix our mistakes and move forward. I think we got some things out of our system. I’m hoping,” Cornia said.
