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Sailors boys basketball wins 12th straight on senior night

Following the final buzzer, the Steamboat boys basketball team rallies around senior Colten Casavecchia for scoring his first basket in the fourth quarter of the Sailors' senior night game against Basalt on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.
Tom Skulski/Steamboat Pilot & Today

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the Sailor’s league record after a loss to Summit on Saturday, Feb. 12.

Improving to 11-1 in league play and capping off a 12-game win streak, the Steamboat Springs boys basketball team celebrated its impressive senior class in a game against Basalt on Friday, Feb. 10. 

With a slow start offensively, the Sailors found themselves with just four points in the opening quarter and down 17-12 at half. 



Senior Cade Gedeon attributes that start to jitters and says it just took some words from head coach Mike Vandahl to turn things around and come away with the 48-24 win.

“We’re really good once we get going, it just takes a bit to get going sometimes,” Gedeon said. “I think we need to find a way to hit that switch faster. Coach Mike told us to play like we know how and stop playing to the crowd and once we figured that out, things got a little better.”



Early in the third quarter, Steamboat began to pick up momentum. Shots started to fall and right at the 4-minute mark of the third quarter, the Sailors took a 20-19 lead and never looked back.

Gedeon played a big role in the offensive surge, knocking down several three-pointers from the corner in front of his classmates. 

Coming off an ankle injury that sidelined him for more than half the season, Gedeon said he has been dreaming of knocking down big shots like those for months. 

Despite nearly every Sailor putting up big shots, the moment of the night was senior Colten Casavecchia, who dressed for the first time this season, scoring a massive bucket late in the fourth quarter. 

Casavecchia is on the autism spectrum and plays an important role on the basketball team. As fans chanted his name, he continued to put up shot attempts with assists from both the Sailors and visiting Longhorns. 

Under the basket, Casavecchia put down an inspiring layup that sent the crowd into a frenzy of joy and celebration for one of their favorite classmates.

“Every day Colten shows up to practice, he does water, he cheers us on, he’s always shooting in practice so it felt good to see him sink one,” Gedeon said. “Everyone went crazy and everyone loves him, it was awesome.”

Vandahl says he is proud of his senior group and thought the night was a special one to celebrate Gedeon, Casavecchia, Austin Moore, Jay Phillips, Ethan Hoy and Daniel Partlow. 

In light of the celebration however, Vandahl was quick to remind his boys the season is not over and they need to flip the script and get ready to play more basketball. 

Following a 58-50 loss to Summit on the road Saturday, Feb. 11, the Sailors have two more games left on the year. 

Vandahl says it would be nice for the Sailors to play hard as the regular season comes to a close and earn a strong seed for tournament play, but he says the team is not scared to play anywhere. 

“Our goal every year is to be playing our best basketball entering the playoffs,” Vandahl said. “That’s kind of what we want to be doing. We have to focus on one day at a time and get a couple guys healthy, the injury bug has hit us here.”

Steamboat Springs 48, Basalt 24
SS 4 8 16 20
B  9  8  2  5


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