{"id":2455436,"date":"2020-03-05T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/six-years-later-aspen-boys-basketball-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament\/"},"modified":"2020-03-05T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T06:04:00","slug":"six-years-later-aspen-high-boys-basketball-team-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/six-years-later-aspen-high-boys-basketball-team-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Six years later, Aspen High boys basketball team heads back to the state tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.4755043227666\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-322185-971\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-1024x768.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo | Aspen High School freshman Taylor Akin defends against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Aspen High School freshman Taylor Akin defends against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.<\/strong><br \/>Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-1024x768.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen High School freshman Taylor Akin defends against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-1-722x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo | Aspen High School sophomore Braden Korpela shoots against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Aspen High School sophomore Braden Korpela shoots against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.<\/strong><br \/>Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AHSbasketball-atd-030620-1-1-722x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen High School sophomore Braden Korpela shoots against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/six-years-later-aspen-boys-basketball-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/six-years-later-aspen-boys-basketball-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Only two years ago, the Aspen High School boys basketball team finished the season with a mere four wins. Last winter it was seven wins, hardly impressive considering the program\u2019s powerhouse status under former coach Steve Ketchum not that long ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, this year\u2019s senior class, led by Aidan Ledingham and Jonathan Woodrow, fought on and always believed in a better day. Now, six years after Ketchum last took the Skiers to the state tournament, they are back and with a swagger not seen in many seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe did,\u201d Ledingham said simply when asked if they believed in getting back to this point. \u201cWe had a lot of good work ethic and I thought we had a lot of good drive and we have really good coaches. It took us a little time, but I think with the coaches\u2019 help and our own instinct of being better basketball players, the team finally got better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This belief has culminated with a spot in the <a href=\"https:\/\/chsaanow.com\/2020-03-01\/3a-boys-basketball-state-tournament-bracket-2020\/\">32-team Class 3A state tournament<\/a>, their first trip to the big dance since 2014. As the No. 27 seed, Aspen (14-9) will play at No. 6 seed DSST: Byers (20-2) in the first round at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Byers, located in the heart of Denver, will host the regional competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The winner will face either No. 11 Alamosa (16-5) or No. 22 Lamar (13-9) at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Round of 16, a game also played on Byers\u2019 home court. Alamosa and Lamar play Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Denver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">According to fourth-year AHS coach Alex Schrempf, Byers is hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-boys-basketball-draws-no-27-seed-will-face-dsst-byers-in-first-round-of-state-tournament\/\">despite original concern about their smaller court<\/a>, similar to that found in Aspen\u2019s Skier Dome. CHSAA approved the court for regional play earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe have a great opportunity to create a great game of basketball tomorrow night,\u201d Schrempf said Thursday. \u201cI\u2019m looking at these teams that we have a chance to play, and I can\u2019t wait to play them. We have such a great chance to do something with this tournament opportunity and it\u2019s a great chance for these young kids to build experience and see what it\u2019s going to be like when we try and get back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen getting to the state tournament seemed farfetched only a few weeks ago. At one point the team was 10-8 overall and amid a four-game skid. Ledingham said it was their 60-51 win at Delta on Feb. 15 that snapped their losing streak that changed their fortunes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat was a big game for us,\u201d Ledingham said. \u201cWe came out to play and that was when we were on a losing streak. We just clicked and that\u2019s when we really started playing Aspen basketball. It\u2019s been really fun from then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Skiers are 4-1 since that four-game skid, and that doesn\u2019t include a rout of Basalt in the regular-season finale, a game that didn\u2019t officially go on the books because of an overscheduling issue on Aspen\u2019s part. The only loss came Saturday in the district championship game to Gunnison, 79-49. AHS only trailed by six points at halftime of that game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOne thing I never doubted from the inception of this whole little project here is I never doubted having their trust,\u201d Schrempf said of the current group of players. \u201cThese guys are not going to be a fluke. This isn\u2019t the stars aligned, one good season in a small town; this is a product of a group of kids who keep trying to work to grow their love of the game together. It\u2019s super exciting for us coaches to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ledingham said it was business as usual this week, although he also mentioned it\u2019s \u201creally cool to have that new chapter\u201d of AHS basketball with a return to the state tournament. While he and his fellow seniors helped lay the foundation for the program\u2019s return to winning, unfinished business at that, coaches and players alike see the potential for this program going forward with three underclassmen \u2014 Lucas Lee, Braden Korpela and Taylor Akin \u2014 often starting for the Skiers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt allows us the chance to recognize this senior group for how they\u2019ve created this and acknowledge the underclassmen for the future they have at their grasp,\u201d Schrempf said. \u201cThese guys stuck with it and they always trusted this process we\u2019ve been trying to get them through. For how exciting our future can be with these underclassmen who are working so hard and love this game so much and have such a high ceiling, it\u2019s so exciting to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/six-years-later-aspen-boys-basketball-heads-back-to-the-state-tournament\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aspen High School freshman Taylor Akin defends against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo Aspen High School sophomore Braden Korpela shoots against Roaring Fork during the 3A district tournament last week in Grand Junction.Leah Moriarty\/courtesy photo Show CaptionsHide Captions Only two years ago, the Aspen High School [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 11:59:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}