Basketball can be brutal sometimes and at the Class 2A Region 3 Tournament in Grand Junction, March 6-7, the Mancos High School basketball team learned that lesson the hard way when numerous shots that usually go in refused to fall.
Bluejays fall in Regionals
Competing against Meeker High School in the Regional championship on March 7 the Bluejays stayed competitive throughout the back and forth contest, but lost, 60-50.
According to Mancos head coach Rodney Cox, an inability to convert uncontested outside shots plagued the Bluejays throughout the contest and played a key role in the loss.
"I thought we executed well, but we just couldn't make an outside basket," said Mancos head coach Rodney Cox. "Shots were going all the way in and all the way out."
Highlighting the Bluejays' final game was the performance of center Ro Paschal, who scored a game-high 27 points. Time and time again, the junior scored from the low block despite being double-teamed numerous times during the contest.
Daniel Christensen scored six points and Brandon Hood-Farley and Adrian Hernandez each added five.
"Ro dominated Meeker," Cox said. "He just needed a little help. We kicked the ball out and got the looks we wanted, but we just couldn't get them to go in."
Mancos trailed 17-10 at the end of the first quarter and 35-24 at halftime before cutting Meeker's lead to two points with just over three minutes left in the quarter.
The Cowboys regained their composure however, and after increasing its lead to 47-38 entering the fourth quarter, held on for the win.
When the final buzzer sounded, devastated Mancos players shook hands with their opponents before entering the locker room together one final time.
It was one of the hardest locker rooms I've ever been in," said Cox. "We had five great seniors and the team was really tight. I'll always remember their willingness to sacrifice personal glory for the good of the team."
Bluejays defeat Vail Christian
Prior to losing to Meeker, Mancos faced off against Vail Christian in the Regional semifinals on March 6 and fought its way to a 65-56 win.
Keying the victory were big nights from senior forward Daniel Christensen and junior center Ro Paschal, who together dominated on the offensive glass and scored 20 points each.
"Ro and Daniel did a really good job rebounding for us," Cox said. "We were zero for thirteen from the perimeter in the first half and our big guys cleaned up a lot of those misses."
Also coming up big for Mancos was senior guard Jayden Peacock, whose defensive intensity and timely scoring made a decisive difference in the game. Peacock ended the game with nine points.
"I thought that Jayden had his best game of the year," said Cox. "He was everywhere on the floor and played a big role for us."
Overall, the Bluejays finished their season with a 16-7 record. Although the team will lose five seniors to graduation before the start of next season, several key juniors will return and the team should remain competitive.
"We have five juniors coming back and they're good ball players," Cox said. "It's not going to easy, we're going to have to work hard and we're going to change our offense and defense a little bit, but we'll be alright next year."