Mancos senior Ro Paschal returned to action on Tuesday night for the first time since injuring his right ankle against Center on Jan. 9 – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
After dropping their last five contests, Paschal led the Blue Jays with 22 points in a 68-61 win over Dolores at home.
The Bears held an 18-13 lead after the first quarter, but Mancos stayed patient on offense and was able to find open shooters to go into the half up 34-30.
“We came out on fire, and then in the second quarter we cooled off just a little bit and Rodney [Cox] adjusted to the pressure,” said Dolores head coach Larry Schwartz.
“We were playing a 2-3 matchup zone and we lost Adrian Hernandez a few times and he was able to hit some threes on us, same with Andrew Christensen,” he added.
Hernandez and Christensen each knocked down three 3-pointers in the contest and finished with 16 points apiece.
“We got the ball to the high-post and they spun around and kicked it to the opposite side and we had nice rhythm shooting out there,” explained Mancos head coach Rodney Cox.
Mancos led by nine to start the fourth quarter, but Dolores wouldn’t go away easily.
“At one point Mancos had built a 12-point lead and we called a timeout and were like, ‘It’s do-or-die time,’” said Schwartz. “And all of a sudden these guys fight back and we’re within four at one point. Then Mancos gets a six point lead back again and we just couldn’t get over that hump again.”
“We got rattled a little bit, you know, we’ve never been in that situation,” said Cox. “But they just calmed down and took care of the basketball.”
The Blue Jays fended off the resurgent Bears to hold on for a 68-61 win.
Mancos was led by Paschal’s 22 points and Hernandez and Christensen each scored 16. They will host Dove Creek (8-4) on Friday.
Ben Lykins led Dolores with 24 points, and while Jalen Balderrama finished with 20, he left the game late with an ankle sprain. Schwartz said that Balderrama would be evaluated on Wednesday to determine if he can play on Friday against Ignacio (9-2).