Netflix has nothing on Friday night hoops in Southwest Colorado.
With all the plot twists of your favorite streaming service drama, played out in front of a live audience, every Mancos-Dove Creek athletic encounter has become must-see entertainment.
The Bulldogs and Bluejays electrified a packed house Friday in Dove Creek, swinging the raucous cheers from one end of the gymnasium to the other with each clutch possession.
In the end, 32 minutes wasn’t enough to separate the league’s two remaining unbeatens, as Dove Creek produced one more big play than Mancos in the overtime period to carry the Bulldogs to victory, 65-59.
The contest – the first win for Dove Creek (11-2, 4-0 2A/1A SJBL) over Mancos in boys basketball since any of the players on the floor have been alive – lived up to the billing as a high-intensity, physical battle of two teams that had separated themselves from the San Juan Basin League field at the top of the standings.
With Dove Creek senior standout Kade Hankins on the bench for the overtime session, having fouled out with a minute left in regulation, the Bulldogs produced big baskets from a variety of sources to help the Bulldogs pull out the win, shortly after they had seen a six-point fourth quarter lead evaporate in the final moments of regulation.
Senior Kendall Gardner scored an and-one bucket in the extra period, while classmate Cole Taber came up with a huge basket of his own – and the Bulldogs shot well from the free throw line in the late stages to collect the win.
Mancos junior Brian Veach drilled a three-pointer in the final 30 seconds of regulation to cap the comeback for Mancos from down 50-44 with less than 70 seconds remaining, tying the contest at 51 and forcing overtime. Veach’s brilliant second half – 20 of his game-high 26 points came in second half or overtime – kept the Jays in step with Dove Creek, as the volume and heart rates inside the “Dawg House” escalated in the waning minutes.
Right from the opening jump, the tone was set – Mancos (8-5, 3-1 2A/1A SJBL) tried to blanket Hankins, who came in averaging 20 points per outing. For a half, the strategy worked like a charm, the Dove Creek offense struggled to find a rhythm – trailing 7-4 after the opening eight minutes.
Responding in kind, however, Dove Creek’s zone defense collapsed on Mancos’ basket attacks, clogging the lane and turning the game into a turnover-fest.
The Bulldogs eked out a 17-16 lead at the break, with Hankins held to seven points, while the Jays kept looking to assert their post presence through sophomore Kaiden Wyatt. The adept Wyatt started to find his touch late in the first half, scoring six of his 14 points before the break.
Meanwhile, out of the locker room, both teams started to find their offense, with Mancos junior Chris Medina fervently attacking the rim, and earning plenty of free throws as a result. His attacking flair helped him to 13 points, seven of which came from the charity stripe in a third-quarter surge for the visitors.
For each Mancos bucket, however, Dove Creek found the answer, as Hankins came to life in the second half – also utilizing the free throw line as an ally in a back-and-forth stanza. Mancos briefly took a four-point lead on a bucket from Wyatt, but Dove Creek answered with the final eight points of the quarter to take a 36-32 lead to the fourth.
“We talked at halftime about how we needed to move the ball more,” said Kade Hankins of his team’s second half production, “and that opened up some of the shorter jumpers that started to fall.”
D.C. senior Tanner Williams – quiet through the first three quarters – came to life in the fourth, providing a pair of big baskets to help Dove Creek expand the lead.
The Bulldogs couldn’t close the game out, though, as Mancos kept the pedal down to drive to the basket and find pivotal field goals that kept head coach Dusty Veach’s squad within arm’s reach.
After Hankins scored on a pair of svelte drives to the basket, beating the Bluejays down the court, D.C. built a six-point edge with less than two minutes to go.
However, Hankins picked up his fifth foul moments later, and the whole tenor of the gymnasium shifted. Mancos capitalized, scoring on consecutive possessions to pull within one score, and after collecting a missed free throw rebound with 30 seconds left, the Bluejays blitzed to the frontcourt, setting up Veach with a right-wing 3-pointer to knot the game at 51.
With all the momentum on the Bluejay sideline after stopping Dove Creek on their final chance in regulation, it looked like the visitors would carry their scoring prowess into overtime.
However, Williams drilled a three on the opening sequence of the overtime. Mancos answered with baskets of their own, including freshman Cory Carver’s lone basket – a triple with a minute remaining to give Mancos their first lead since the third quarter, 59-58.
The Bluejays wouldn’t score again.
A clutch steal by Dove Creek’s Gage Buffington as Mancos was trying to milk the clock set up the Bulldog revival. The junior, along with sophomore Sheldon Gardner, canned a series of free throws, helping Dove Creek reclaim the lead, before their defense stymied the final Mancos looks at the basket.
“They executed perfectly,” said Kade Hankins of his team’s performance without him on the floor in overtime, “they knew they needed to take care of the ball, and they came up with some big plays.”
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” said Dove Creek head coach Aaron Hankins, “I’m so proud of them – they were upbeat the whole time, even when we fell behind.”
Veach led all scorers with 26 points, while Wyatt added 14 and Medina tallied 13 points for the Bluejays.
Hankins scored 23 points, while Kendall Gardner finished with a dozen and Williams added 10 points for Dove Creek.
“Kendall stepping up as a scoring threat has really helped our offense,” said the D.C. head coach of his team’s scoring balance – seven different players scored in the game, “we’ve really improved with having more guys who we can rely on for scoring – and that’s what we want to see as coaches.”
“We had a lot of guys come up big tonight,” added Hankins, “we had guys from the bench stepping up and making plays – especially in overtime.”
Dove Creek will get set to face Bayfield on Wednesday, Feb. 1, before a big league contest against Ouray – with whom they have split their first two meetings – awaits on Friday at home. Their duel with the Trojans will be broadcast on local radio station 98.7 FM KRTZ and on krtzradio.com.
Mancos, meanwhile, looks to shift their road fortunes, as they take on Ridgway on Saturday, before trips to Nucla on Thursday, Feb. 2 and Telluride two days later cap a busy week for the Jays.
