“We have a very unselfish group,” said Bears head coach Larry Schwartz. “Night in, night out, we have quite a few assists from everybody. When we get our fast break going, it’s beautiful and it was getting going there for a while.”
Relying heavily on fast breaks to score easy buckets, Dolores put together a 45-0 run that spanned most of the second quarter, all of the third quarter, and most of the fourth. By the time the Bears’ run mercifully ended on an elbow jumper by Dove Creek sophomore Tristan Jarmon with 5:47 left in the game, the Bears starters had long ago departed, and Dolores led 58-10.
Leading the Bears in scoring with 13 points was junior Justin Purkat, whose night was highlighted by several fast-break layups and a three-pointer from the left wing midway through the first quarter that put Dolores ahead 22-8.
“We’re quick whenever we can get (our fast break) together,” Purkat said. “Even if we can’t score off the fast break, it kind of sets the whole mood for our offense. Getting the crowd behind us gave us a little bit of an edge tonight.”
Also playing a key role in the Dolores victory were senior guard Tristan Medina and sophomore forward Tristan Swagerty, who scored 10 points each. Swagerty’s twisting left-handed layup off of a pretty pass from Purkat was especially impressive.
After the game, the sophomore spoke about his team’s unselfish play.
“You pretty much can’t go wrong when you have the whole team playing unselfishly on the court, and you can trust everybody with the ball,” Swagerty said. “We like to share the wealth.”
Twelve Dolores players scored in the game, including sophomore Phillip Hufman, who netted three 3-pointers, and junior Preson Enoah, who scored his first varsity basket.
Dove Creek was led in scoring by Ryan Martinez, who netted eight points. Jarmon added two points, and Park Pruett scored one point for the Bulldogs.
“Honestly, I can’t really ask too much more,” said Dove Creek coach Lucas Anliker. “The scoreboard didn’t really reflect it, but (our players) came out and gave it their all.”
“Here recently, we’re shown more heart than we did at the beginning of the season,” added Jarmon. “We started the season with 16 players, and now we are down to seven. It has been a struggle, but the team has really picked it up.”
Winners of two of their last three games, the Bears (7-6 overall, 4-3 in the SJBL) will next play at home against Ignacio on Feb. 2. Dove Creek (0-10 overall, 0-6 in SJBL) will look to pick up its first win of the season at home against Shiprock Northwest on Feb. 3.