Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Now it’s left to the seeding committee. 

The Steamboat Springs High School boys basketball team put the final touches on its regular season resume Friday, downing Moffat County, 57-49. 

With the win, the Sailors locked up the Western Slope League’s fourth slot, which traditionally is the last spot to get into the 48-team, Class 4A bracket. 

“I don’t see why not. I’d be shocked if we aren’t in,” Steamboat coach Luke DeWolfe said. “But you never know. It’s one of those things when you leave it up to a committee, it’s hard to say.”

The two teams went back and forth early in the game before Steamboat took over in the second quarter. 

Up 17-15, Steamboat closed the quarter out on a 10-0 run to take a 27-15 lead into halftime. 

“We played Steamboat ball in the first half,” Moffat County coach Eric Hamilton said. “Maybe we should have tried that press a little more. We missed a lot of easy things we should have converted.”

The Sailors went up by as much as 35-21 entering the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs started to implement their full-court press. Steamboat turned the ball over eight times in the quarter, and Moffat closed to 48-42. 

But the Bulldogs would never get any closer. 

“I thought early in the game we were able to do what we wanted,” DeWolfe said. “We played good defense and got baskets when we needed it. But to match a team’s pressure has been tricky for us. We struggled executing and making good passes. Sometimes, we get a little back on our heels.”

Carter Kounovsky led the Sailors with a career-high 20 points. The sophomore scored 14 first-half points and hit four huge 3-pointers. 

“This is his coming out,” DeWolfe said. “For a sophomore, he became a varsity player. I think he showed a lot of his potential for the next two years.”

Kit Croop added 15 points, and Jake Miller had 11. 

The selection committee will release the brackets Sunday afternoon at www.chsaa.org.