Tanner Gold is a man of many names…
Around Crane he is known more simply and affectionately as “Tud”, a name given to him by his grandpa. To the rest of the SWCL he is just known as a headache.
On Friday Tud showed Blue Eye why that is, scoring a game-high 26 points and leading the Pirates to a 53-38 homecoming win over the Bulldogs in SWCL action.
“Tanner is a great kid and it’s definitely nice to have a senior guard that can take that role of getting a bucket whenever we need one,” said Crane coach Craig Campbell. “We didn’t have Dalton Hayes on the floor for us tonight, which had us a little stagnant on offense, but Tanner was able to pick up the slack and get guys in position to help us out and score when he needed to.”
While Gold poured in eight points in the first quarter, part of a 13-point first half that got Crane out to a 28-15 advantage, it was the Pirates defensive intensity that paved the way throughout Friday’s win.
Blue Eye freshman Andrew Mitchell has terrorized opponents throughout the season, just as his older brother, Christian, did in his time as a Bulldog. At 6-foot-4, the younger Mitchell has the same ability to post up or play on the perimeter depending on the matchup.
Slowing down the standout was a point of emphasis for Crane coming into Friday.
“Mitchell is a great freshman; he’s going to be one of those kids that is fun to watch over the next few years,” said Campbell. “One of the challenges was to keep him limited in his scoring. He’s averaging around 20 PPG; I wrote that he was averaging 30 PPG to pump the guys up a little more. We did a good job on him, I was proud of their effort on him.”
Mitchell scored his first points of the game with under a minute remaining in the first half. While he still finished with a team-high 12 points, giving the freshman one of the toughest nights of his young SWCL career also allowed Crane to slow Blue Eye’s offense.
Crane is typically known for playing up-tempo basketball, but grinding out a defensive win while playing without a key starter is exactly what the Pirates needed as they continue to take form heading into district play.
With a trip to Conway, as well as Forsyth and Galena to close out the 2015-16 schedule, Crane, the No. 1 seed in Class 2 – District 11, looks to catch fire heading into the postseason after losses to Sparta and Clever last week.
“Last week we dropped a couple of tough games on the road; I know the boys really wanted to win that one against Clever because of the big rivalry,” said Campbell. “But dropping two in a row at this time of the year is a breaking point of the season. They stepped up and responded to the challenge against Walnut Grove and we’ve been building on that.
Playing back to back nights is tough and it being Conway makes it even tougher; they’re a good team. It will be a great challenge for us. We want to play well to continue to build on the momentum we’ve had this last week. We’ve got two games next week and it would be great for us to carry all of this momentum into districts.”
Blue Eye will end the regular season with trips to Spokane and Forsyth, before jumping into Class 2 – District 11 where the Bulldogs are the No. 5 seed.
Crane 53, Blue Eye 38
Blue Eye 8-7-12-11 – 38
Crane 16-12-9-16 – 53
Blue Eye: Mitchell 12, Peter 6, Dawson 2, Frandino 9, Reagan 9.
Crane: Gold 26, Elder 6, R. Cook 6, R. Williams 8, White 4, Vaught 3.
