After falling behind early, the Dolores Bears (3-12) were unable to mount a comeback against the Telluride Miners (6-8) on Friday night.
The Miners jumped out to a 13-6 first-quarter advantage, and then started the second on an 11-2 run to lead 24-8 midway through.
The Bears struggled against the Miners’ full-court pressure, and their deep, errant passes turned into Telluride scores on the other end.
“We had to call a timeout because our guys were forgetting to cut to the middle,” head coach Larry Schwartz said after the game. “Even when we’re running our three-high play, they’ve still got to cut to the middle. And when you don’t then they’ve got us.”
Finally, midway through the second and trailing by 16, the Bears made a push.
Jalen Balderrama hit two free throws and then senior Branden Donaldson was able to leak out after Telluride shot attempts and score in transition. Donaldson scored the Bears’ next seven points to trim the Miners’ lead to single-digits.
“He’s so fast,” said Schwartz. “That’s Donaldson’s game. When he’s playing like that it’s crazy. He leaks out really well, and so does [Tristen] Medina now.”
Telluride closed the second on a 4-0 run and went into the half with a 30-18 lead, but Schwartz challenged his players at half time.
The Bears were without leading scorer Ben Lykins – who suffered a concussion in Dolores’ previous game against Ignacio – so other players would need to step up to replace his 16 points-per-game average.
“I challenged the guys at halftime, ‘You guys have got to step up and become scorers,’” said Schwartz. “And I thought [Justin] Purkat stepped up to the plate, [Josh] McCoy finally got his shots to go, Medina is a great ball handler and Jalen [Balderrama] is a good slasher.”
Purkat knocked down a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, and then later scooped up a loose ball and went the length of the court to pull the Bears within five points, 33-28. But Telluride responded with a run of its own and stretched the gap back to 11 to end the quarter.
Dolores strung together another run in the fourth to get within seven points, but it seemed that Telluride always answered, and the Miners went on to win, 57-48.
“It seemed like that,” Schwartz said of the Miners’ responding to each Dolores run. “It seems like that with every team. So it comes down to, my guys have got to get that confidence and believe in themselves.”
“Because we can hang with every team in the league,” he continued. “It’s just a matter of, we’ve got to be able to finish a game, learn how to win a tough one, and maybe that will help us in districts. That’s what we’re hoping.”
Balderrama led the Bears with 12 points and Purkat scored 10 in what Schwartz referred to as, “By far his best outing of the season.”
Donaldson finished with nine points, McCoy added eight, Kyle Biery scored six and Medina chipped in four.
The Bears next game is on Friday at Ouray (11-2).