Tuesday night was an emotional night, of sorts.
There were two boys basketball teams playing each other at Dolores High School just separated by 11 miles. The players knew each other, the coaches new each other, the players knew the coaches and the coaches knew kids.
The end result?
It was the Dolores Bears varsity squad starting fast with its new uptempo offense and the Montezuma-Cortez High School junior varsity unable to dig itself out of a 19-point halftime deficit.
M-CHS won the second half, 27-26. Dolores won the game, 58-40.
Its huge for the kids confidence. That was our goal, was to get to 2-2. We know this next weekend is going to be tough, said DHS coach Larry Schwartz about playing in the Wolf Creek Classic on Friday and Saturday in Pagosa Springs. Theres a lot of senior dominated teams over there and were really young. Right now, the kids are just trying to learn the system and pick up on it. Theyre getting it. Were psyched to be 2-2.
Guards Cody Carroll and Alex Goodwin ran the Bears system with confidence on Tuesday. The duo scored the games first eight points, including two 3-pointers by Carroll. Panthers coach Justin Schmitt called timeout to settle his troops after quickly getting down 8-0. Schmitt was coaching from the visitors bench after leading the Dolores program for the last four years.
I have a good relationship with the Dolores boys still, the people in Dolores, and on the school staff and community. I also have a good relationship with the kids in Cortez, Schmitt said. For me, it wasnt really that big of a deal. Its just another game.
The Bears definitely had plenty of motivation.
It was a little fun against our old coach tonight. There was a lot of history behind this game, said Dolores center Tyler Weir. Especially, when theyre our rivals just over the hill 15 minutes away.
DHS built a 16-2 first quarter lead. But the Panthers cut it in half spanning into the second quarter to make the score 16-9. Freshmen Jonathan Borderman and Jonathan Walck sparked the spurt for M-CHS. Goodwin halted the M-CHS run putting back his own miss, which ignited an 8-0 Dolores run that gave the Bears a 24-9 advantage. Carroll, Weir and Goodwin pushed the Dolores lead to 32-13 at halftime.
That was our goal in the locker room when we came out, was to jump on them early, Schwartz said. They got good 3-point shooters just like we do. We need to cover up the 3-point shooters when we know theyre getting hot.
The Bears played good perimeter defense, forcing the Panthers to miss outside shots and making them drive to the basket. Weir has made a living cleaning the glass for Dolores averaging more than 15 rebounds per game coming in.
We got to rebound a lot harder than we did last year, because we dont have a lot of height this year, Weir said. If they (teammates) get down there ahead of me, sometimes they miss their layups. I get easy cleanups. Its a lot of fun.
The Bears built a 24-point lead in the third quarter before M-CHS cut it back to 19 heading into the fourth. Both teams played nearly even from there, as Dolores posted the 18-point win.
Carroll scored a game high 27 points for Dolores. Weir had 10 points and Goodwin knocked down 13. Goodwin missed most of last season because of a knee injury. The guard is glad to be back.
I feel really good after the knee surgery from last year. Ive been working hard trying to get my knee back, Goodwin said. Its nothing new. I work hard in general. This year, were starting to work harder. Were all working harder. Its really helping us out.
Borderman led the Panthers (1-3) with 13 points, while Walck netted 11.
One of the things that were working on, is not having a slow start, Schmitt said. I thought Dolores played a very good game. But in the second half, I thought we played with them pretty evenly. We let them get out to a big lead. Thats something were working on, is trying to have a faster start, so we dont get ourself in trouble. Thats a big thing. If we didnt give up that big lead, I felt that game would have been pretty close throughout.
Dolores will play host Pagosa Springs on Friday at 8 p.m. in the first round of the Wolf Creek Classic.
The M-CHS JV hosts the Bayfield JV on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 4 p.m.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.