CREEDE— The Creede Miners remained tied for first place in District 6 after a sleep-walking win at Crested Butte and a wake-up victory over Holy Trinity Saturday. Creede, Primero and Sierra Grande all have one loss. The Miners were scheduled to play Sierra Grande for the first time Wednesday, and will go there for the final regular season game of the year Feb. 20 after hosting Primero Feb. 12.

The Miners had to feel better after crushing Holy Trinity 66-33 Saturday. Surely their uninspired effort against Crested Butte left them with a bad taste in their mouths. Creede jumped on the Titans as if they meant to take care of business in a hurry Friday, but wound up working—and struggling—most of the game before dragging out a 44-33 win.

True, the Miners were without senior Cameron Nelson, whose quickness and slashing moves to the basket were certainly missed. And, yes, they got in some foul trouble, and yes, they were on the road, but still…

“The most disappointing thing about that game was our inability to put them away,” said coach Aaron Christensen. “In the first half we had plenty of chances to do that, and just did not get it done.”

After looking ragged and tentative on offense the first half, the Titans tried mightily to turn the tide in the final two quarters. An erratic Creede offense, coupled with some Titan long range (and at times unlikely) field goals let the Titans get within four points late in the game. With Nelson in street clothes with a bum ankle and senior Tyler Stroh on the bench with four fouls, things were looking grim for the Miners.

But Creede did just enough to hang on for the win. A couple of timely jumpers from Morten Hojen and a big three from Damian Trow kept the Miners slim lead alive until John Whitmore took over. The senior post had 20 points and sealed the win with his free throw shooting, hitting 10 of 12 from the line, six of them in a row late in the game.

Saturday Creede never let Holy Trinity within sniffing distance. They led 22-6 at the half and cruised to a 33-6 victory. Whitmore again led the Miners with 18 points, while Stroh had 15 and Alvaro Winkler 10.

The Miners have only one game this weekend. They will be at Centennial Friday and will enjoy a rare Saturday off before hosting Primero in a showdown game Feb. 12. Primero, a top ten ranked team, handed Creede its first district loss of the season on Jan. 9.