The Mancos Bluejays have earned a reputation as blue bloods in small high school basketball, and regardless of their seed in Colorado’s 2A tournament, knew they could match up with the state’s best.
As the No. 22 seed, the Bluejays stepped up with a 64-56 win Friday over No. 11 Holly before succumbing to a special performance by No. 6 Golden View Classical’s Jakob Gonzales in Saturday’s regional final, dropping the Sweet 16 game 49-38.
Mancos, winner of eight straight games including the District 3 title, elevated their play in their opener against the Wildcats. After giving up the first 5 points of the game, Mancos responded with back-to-back threes and established a lead they would never relinquish.
The Jays (17-6) built a double-digit lead before halftime, only to see Holly storm back to within a point midway through the third quarter. However, a scoring flurry restored the Mancos advantage to 51-39 midway through the fourth, and the Bluejays held off the surging Wildcats 56-54 by hitting eight free throws in the final two minutes.
The victory advanced Mancos to the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight season and into a rematch with last year’s 2A opener, Golden View Classical Academy. A year after losing to the Bluejays 69-52 in the Bluejay Fieldhouse, Golden View leaned on senior Gonzales, who scored 30 points to send the Sentinels to their first state tournament.
The Jays and Sentinels played to a 7-all tie through the opening quarter, but GVCA slowly built a 7-point lead heading into the final quarter. For the Bluejays, it was only the second game all season that they scored fewer than 40 points.
Mancos fans have plenty to look forward to, however, as the Bluejays are set to return their entire roster after a big year of growth under first-year head coach Dusty Veach.
The Bluejays girls keep getting closer to a breakthrough in regional play.
After a third consecutive winning season and a first district tournament title in more than a decade, the Mancos girls program rode a wave of momentum into the 2A state tournament.
Like the boys team, Mancos played without a senior, but continued to gain experience against top competition. In their opening round matchup Friday with No. 13 Limon, the No. 20 Mancos gave the Badgers all they could handle for three quarters before bowing out in a 60-43 defeat.
After trailing 15-10 through eight minutes, the Jays rallied to within a point, down 32-31 heading to the fourth quarter. However, a big Limon fourth quarter – 28 points – was too much to overcome, and head coach Kerri Morgan’s Bluejays ended their season with a 15-7 record and a third consecutive entry into a the state regionals.
