Double Overtime Thriller

The Cottonwood Colts picked up their 2^nd win of the season Saturday afternoon in a thrilling 87-80 double overtime victory over the Cyprus Pirates in the Riverton Holliday tournament.

Cyprus took an early 2-0 lead after getting a bucket on their first possession, Cottonwood would then gain the momentum after tying it a 2 and would go on a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 lead. The Pirates stormed back to tie the game at 10 going onto extend their lead to 5 after 1 18-13.

Cyprus extend their lead early in the second to 7 at 20-13; however,  the Colts would not go away cutting the lead to 1 at 23-22, where they took back the lead after Spence McDonald converted 2 free throws to make it 24-23.  Cyprus would get hot to end the half heading into the locker room leading the Colts by 4 35-31.

The Colts came out strong to start the second half scoring the first four points of the quarter to tie the game at 37.  Cyprus would get hot again late in the 3^rd and would end the quarter leading 49-41.

The Pirates opened the 4^th by extending their lead to 51-41, as the Colts continued to chip away at their lead cutting it to 5 at 53-48 after Kalin Facemyer converted a 3 point play. The Pirates would then start to pull away as they would push the lead back up to double digits moments later leading 60-48.

The Colts continued to fight back cutting the lead to 67-59 after a pair of 3’s and a layup by Zach Nelson. Andrew Lujan would then pull the Colts to within 67-61 when he would convert a 3 point play after being fouled. After the foul Cyprus big man Josh Peck was upset by the foul call and given a technical foul for kicking the ball down the court getting him ejected from the game.

Andrew Lujan would go on to covert 3 of the 4 technical foul shots to cut the pirates lead to 67-65, and Kalin Facemyer would make a layup moments later to tie it at 67 sending the game to overtime.

In the first overtime the colts would grab and early lead 69-67, but the pirates would come right back to tie it at 69. Cottonwood would then took the lead back on a 3 by Facemyer 74-71 only to watch Cyprus tie it moments later at 76 sending the game to double overtime.

In the second overtime the Colts would lock down defensevily holding the Pirates to only 4 points in the quarter helping them to earn the 87-80 victory.

After the game Cyprus Coach Tre Smith had this to say about Cottonwood,” They got a whole lot better in this tournament, they are scrappy team Coach Gummersall does a good job of getting his team ready to play. They will compete in their region with the talent they have.

The Colts had 3 players score in double figures led by Andrew Lujan who finished with 21 points, Zach Nelson chipped in with 12 and Malik Johnson added 10 points.

The Colts will have some time off before opening region play Friday night when they face the Jordan Beetdiggers.

Cottonwood vs Murray

The Cottonwood Colts were looking to extend their winning streak to two games Wednesday night on the road for a matchup against the Murray Spartans.

Preston Davis got the Colts off to a fast start as he shot a 3 and was fouled on the play, he would go on to convert the free throw for an early 4-0 lead. Murray tied the game moments later after hitting their first two shots of the game. Britton Jensen went on to hit a jumper putting Cottonwood back in the lead 7-4. The Spartans would then go on a run grabbing their first lead of the game at 10-8.  Murray continued to add to their lead and would close out the first leading by 7, 16-9.

Andrew Lujan opened the second quarter hitting a jumper that would cut the Spartans lead to 5 at 16-11, Davis then shot his second 3 of the game to pull Cottonwood to within 3 at 17-14. Lujan converted an old fashion 3 point play being fouled on a layup to tie the game at 17. That would be as close as the Colt’s would get as the Spartans would extend the lead to 6 at the half 29-23.

Kalin Facemyer opened the 3^rd red hot for the Colts connecting on his first two shots to cut the Spartans lead to 2, 29-27. The Spartans took back control of the game as they extended the lead to as many as 8 points, closing the quarter leading 44-36.

The Spartans continued to extend their lead to 12 at 50-38 in the fourth, Cottonwood not giving up the fight eventually cutting the lead to 9 on a three by Lujan with 4 minutes left to play. Murray wouldn’t let the Colts get any closer going on to defeat Cottonwood by a final score of 63-45.

Kalin Facemyer led Cottonwood scoring a team high 15 points and Preston Davis chipped in with 11 points in the loss.

The Colts return to action Friday night at home in another non-region contest against the Eagles of Skyline at 7 PM.

Cottonwood Colt’s Spolight

Kalin Facemyer is a 6’3 195lbs Senior Forward for the Cottonwood Colts.

His biggest role model is Oklahoma City Thunder Point Guard Russell Westbrook.

Kalin chose to play basketball because it fun, and he see’s himself working after high school.

In his free time he enjoys hanging out with his friends.

Kalin goal for the season is to help the team make it to the State Tournament.

One thing that is unique about Kalin is two of his toes are connected.

 

 

Olympus vs Cottonwood

The Cottonwood Colts were looking for their first win of the season on the road Friday night, against the tough defending state champions Olympus Titans.

Cottonwood jumped out to an early 8-0 lead thanks to a pair of 3’s from Spence McDonald and a layup by Kalin Facemyer. Olympus would go on 8-0 run to tie the game at 8 and gained their first lead of the game at 10-8. The Colts would finish the quarter strong on another 3-pointer by McDonald and a layup by Naaman Sadiq to take a one point lead 15-14.

Olympus regained the lead early in the second 16-14 and would go on to push their lead to 6 at 22-15. Cottonwood continued to chip away at the Titans lead cutting the lead to 2 after a basket by Andrew Lujan with 2 minutes left in the half. Olympus ended the half on a hot streak going into the half leading by 8 33-25.

During Halftime I caught up with Cottonwood coach Lance Gummersall to get his thoughts on the first half, “Amazing effort the first two quarters. The team was engaged defensively and made a lot happen.”

The Titans broke the game open connecting on a pair of 3’s early in the 3^rd quarter extending their lead to 14 at 39-25. Cottonwood continued not give up showing heart and desire, but they were overmatch by the Titans findings themselves trailing 57-29 after 3 quarters.

The Titans locked down defensively in the 4^th as they would go on to outscore the Colts 26-8 and would go on to get the easy win 83-37.

After the game coach Gummersall had this to say about his team’s performance in the second half, “The second half we thought we could just show up and get the same result. If we could match our first quarter intensity for 4 quarters we could be a good team.”

Spence McDonald lead the Colts with 11 points, and Kalin Facemyer had 7.

Cottonwood will continue to look for their first win on the season again as they travel to face the Pirates of Cyprus Tuesday night a 7PM.