After threatening to erase a 10-point deficit facing them since the last moments of the third quarter Friday night, the Dolores Bears were unable to get closer to visiting Telluride than 29-24 – via a three-pointer early in the fourth by senior guard Mark Palate – in what ended up being a 48-29 home loss.
“I thought we played tough for the first three quarters,” said DHS head coach Joel Balderrama. “And it’s not like we didn’t play tough in the fourth; we just had a lot of mental lapses and they were able to capitalize with easy shots. We just dug ourselves too deep of a hole.”
Led by aggressive take to the hole after aggressive take to the hole by senior guard Townes Merritt, the Miners, who’d led 10-5 after the first quarter, 22-14 at halftime and 29-21 through three frames – after DHS freshman Koby McClellan sank two free throws just before the buzzer – broke the game open decisively via a 12-2 run increasing their advantage to 41-26 with 3:43 left in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League contest.
Reserves Alex Nieto, a freshman, and Danny Romo, a sophomore, played key roles during that spree – senior regulars Jay Ellison (with 6:25 left in the game) and Cash Livermore (5:36 left) had both fouled out – and combined for the last bucket during THS’ breakaway; Nieto rebounded a DHS miss, and passed ahead to Romo for a layup over a trailing defender.
Though able to sink one three-pointer in each quarter, Palate’s potential effectiveness was restricted by three personal fouls, two coming during the first half as Dolores (4-6 overall; 0-1 SJBL, 0-1 2A SJBL) attempted to wipe out Telluride’s 13-5 lead achieved by Ellison’s ‘and-one’ conversion early in the second quarter.
“We rely on Mark a lot to score for us. And when he’s not out there it’s trouble for the whole team,” Balderrama said.
“It sucks when you turn the ball over more than you score,” he continued. “But credit to them; they have active hands and they’ve got a lot of length – and we struggled with that.”
Palate finished with a team-leading 14 points, and junior Trayton Traweek scored five. Sophomore Michael Rantz chipped in four points (before fouling out with 1:14 left in regulation), and McClellan and senior Ty Gaddis each finished with two, but seniors Jonathan Purkat and Joshua Carpenter were held to just one point apiece.
Merritt racked up a game-high 19 points and senior center/forward Grayson Berry 14 for THS (6-3 overall; 2-0 SJBL, 2-0 2A SJBL) in the guests’ sixth consecutive win. Ellison managed six points, Nieto four, Romo and Livermore two apiece, and sophomore Langston Silbergeld one.
Expected winter weather permitting, the Bears were to next travel to Ridgway (1-4; 0-1, 0-1) on the 13th.
“I’m excited,” said Balderrama. “I mean, it’s a new opportunity to try to put this one behind us, try to build on the few good things we did for the first three quarters, you know? And try to learn from the mistakes we made in the fourth.”
