The Dolores County High School boys basketball team finished as the runnerup team in their annual Bulldog Classic over the weekend, Dec. 1-2, which was held this year at the Mancos Performance Center.

The Bulldogs, under second-year coach Scott Crawford, opened the season with a heartbreaking 61-56 setback to Shiprock, N.M., in the opening round Friday night.

"We played a good opening game but Keith Pierce only played seven minutes," Crawford reported.

Pierce, a standout sophomore post, got into early foul trouble and sat out most of the first half. He went back into the game but was gone by the fourth quarter. He finished with only 8 points.

The Chieftains led 11-10 at the end of the first period but the game was deadlocked 27-all at the half. The Bulldogs led 44-37 going into the fourth quarter.

"We lost Pierce and then they got the hot hand. We made some mistakes and they won," Crawford added.

Dallas Coker tossed in 13, Lyle Joe 12, and Chris Kail 9 for DCHS.

Bayfield defeated Aztec, N.M., JVs 91-37 in the opening round.

On Saturday night, the Bulldogs defeated Aztec JVs 53-42.

They led 11-3 at the end of the first quarter and 23-17 at the half. DCHS outscored the Tigers 31-25 in the second half.

Pierce had a good game as he finished 18 while Coker chipped in 14.

"We played much better this game," he noted. "But it was one of those games where we miss 50 percent of shots and we still win the game. The night before, we made most of our shots but we lose the game."

Bayfield crushed Shiprock 72-27 for the boys’ title.

"We need to work on building our bench strength. That is a big concern right now. I feel our offense needs to losen up," he said.

The Bulldog boys will compete in the annual Wolf Creek Classic this Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8-9, in Pagosa Springs. They will battle host Pagosa Springs at 8:45 p.m. Friday, and then get an early glimpse of San Juan Basin League foe Nucla at 11:45 a.m. Saturday and then play Gunnison at 6:45 p.m. Saturday.

Mancos girls took on host Monticello, Utah, in the Monticello Tournament (which was not really a tournament) on Friday night. The Blue Jays won their 2000-01 opener easily 57-29.

The Blue Jays were led by Kerri Morgan with 18 points while Katie Paxton chipped in 11.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how well we played," MHS head girls coach Kevin Dimmick remarked. "I thought we played very good defense and kept the pressure on. We converted our layups."

Mancos led 18-9 at the end of the first period and 37-16 at the break. Mancos scored 11 in the third quarter while the Buckaroos made only 5. Mancos outpointed Monticello 9-8 in the fourth.

The Blue Jays took on a weak Green River, Utah, team the next day and won 47-18.

"Green River was a lot slower than we were. We took advantage of that. I guess we scored most of our points from transition basketball," Dimmick added.

Mancos jumped out to a 14-6 lead after the first period of play. It continued to apply the pressure and led 26-10 at the half. Mancos outscored Green River 22-8 in the second half. Morgan and Paxton both popped in 11 while Amanda Kennedy added 10.

"We played well defensively the whole weekend. This was a good way to start. But we have got to play very well this week. We have two tough games against Ignacio and Bayfield," he added.

The Mancos girls visit Ignacio at 5 p.m. today, Dec. 5, and then host Bayfield at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9. The Mancos boys will open the season also at Ignacio tonight.

No word was received at press time on the Dolores-Green River or Dolores-Monticello girls games.

Dolores’ Justin Schmitt was just too much for Ignacio to handle on Saturday night. Schmitt gunned in 27 points, most from layups or free throws. The Bears took a 64-59 win.

Dolores utilized a stingy defense and an increasily aggressive offense to put the Bobcats away. By going to the hoop strong, Ignacio made many fouls.

Schmitt helped the team right from the start, leading the Bears build a healthy 18-13 lead over the Bobcats with eight points. A bucket by Cullen Zion extended that lead to seven, and Dolores kept comfortably ahead for most of the second period. But Ignacio sprang to life late in the second period and the Bears held a 30-29 lead at the intermission.

Ignacio pulled ahead for the first time at 30-32. The Bobcats led throughout much of the third quarter until Schmitt hit a three which put the Bears up 50-47. Ignacio came back and nearly won it but Waylon Bennett made a layup which preserved the victory.

The night before it was just the opposite as the Dolores boys fell 61-56 at Durango JVs. The score was tied 9-9 at the end of the first. The Demons outpointed the Bears 17-12 in the second quarter. The teams exchanged points in the second half with Durango scoring 18 in the third and 17 in the fourth while Dolores popped in 17 in the third and 18 in the fourth.

"We had a case of first-game jitters," Dolores head coach Todd Wynne said. "It was very apparent at the free throw line where we missed 22 free throws. Besides missing the free throws, we got ourselves into early foul trouble."

Schmitt led the way with 19 points.