Recruiting Report: Kolton Bachman (2016)
Any basketball player worth his or her salt dreams of piling up wins. That was the goal for Kolton Bachman when he began playing basketball at Longmont. And needless to say, things have been going according to plan. Bachman and…
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Continue ReadingAny basketball player worth his or her salt dreams of piling up wins.
That was the goal for Kolton Bachman when he began playing basketball at Longmont. And needless to say, things have been going according to plan.
Bachman and Longmont, who play in the Class 4A state quarterfinals against Mead on Saturday, have lost only two games in the past two years — one each in the past two seasons. And this year, their only loss was a narrow defeat to a 5A team.
“It’s been a dream come true,” Bachman said. “I have the best coaches and teammates around me and it just makes it a lot of fun. Winning, obviously, is great. It’s a lot of fun.”
Bachman, a 6-1 senior guard, has certainly played a major role in all that winning for the Trojans. He enters this weekend’s game averaging 12.7 points and a team-leading 5.3 rebounds per game. Bachman, who to this point has only light interest from a few small-college programs, is a tough-nosed guard who plays with great motor on both ends of the court. His rebounding ability speaks to his toughness while battling against bigger players, and he’s one of the teams most efficient and versatile defenders.
“I’m an aggressive player who likes to play on both sides of the ball,” Bachman said of the pitch he would give to college coaches. “I like to get after it on defense, and I also contribute on the offensive end.”
Bachman has made a big jump as a scorer. He averaged 5.8 points per game as a junior, but this season he’s shown he’s capable of being a versatile and efficient playmaker. He’s scored in double figures in five out of the team’s last six games, and he overall he is shooting 59 percent (120-of-203) from the field this season, thriving on his ability to penetrate and finish at the rim.
“I think being aggressive is a big part of it,” Bachman said of the reason behind his improvement. “Coach (Jeff Kloster) always tells me I need to attack the basket, and I just try to do that every game, be aggressive and play how I know I need to play.”
Bachman, who has played his club ball with the Colorado Titans, has played alongside Boise State-bound wing Justinian Jessup through club and high school seasons for years. He said he has taken a lot away from playing with a player of Jessup’s talent.
“He’s a great player,” Bachman said. “It’s been awesome to play for him the last three years. I learn things just watching him play that I’m able to apply to my game, so it’s just been awesome all the way around.”
Bachman is hopeful he’ll have a chance to show a college program what he can do at the next level. For now, he’s focusing on more winning. Three more victories, and the Trojans can capture the state championship that just slipped through their fingers last season during an otherwise perfect season.
“We just want to stay focused,” Bachman said. “We just want to give it 100 percent each practice and get better.”