{"id":36172,"date":"2023-01-22T01:39:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T08:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hot-shooting-bluejays-top-telluride\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:29:42","slug":"hot-shooting-bluejays-top-telluride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hot-shooting-bluejays-top-telluride\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot-shooting Bluejays top Telluride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mancos
Mancos junior Brian Veach loses Telluride's Will Metheny (5) behind a Kaiden Wyatt (23) screen and drives into the paint during SJBL action Friday at MHS. Veach scored a game-high 28 points. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The San Juan Basin League is up for grabs this year. The Bluejays boys basketball team \u2013 last year\u2019s regular season champs \u2013 are out to make sure no one wrests it from their hands.<\/p>\n

Winners of five in a row, Mancos took their early steps in a SJBL title defense with a blistering shooting night in a 68-51 victory over the Telluride Miners.<\/p>\n

MHS picked up their 10th straight win over Telluride (6-5, 3-1 2A\/1A SJBL) in the process, but were made to work hard on their home floor to pick up their second league win in as many tries this year.<\/p>\n

The Miners entered the contest with a 3-0 mark in league play, joining Mancos and Dove Creek as the remaining unbeatens in the early stretch of the SJBL schedule.<\/p>\n

Mancos (7-4, 2-0 2A\/1A SJBL) lit up the scoreboard in an emphatic first quarter, pouring in 23 points to build a 17-point advantage over the Miners. A corner three-pointer by junior Brian Veach put an exclamation point on the outburst, while freshman Darren Daves poured in all five of his points in the rally.<\/p>\n

After Telluride junior Jay Ellison drained back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to 11-6, Mancos scored the final dozen in the quarter \u2013 and it looked as if the hosts would run away with the game.<\/p>\n

That, however, wouldn\u2019t be quite as simple. Telluride junior Townes Merritt scored 14 points in a shooting exhibition in the second quarter to close the gap to nine at 34-25.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos junior Chris Medina (5) stretches for a rebound against Telluride's Grayson Berry during SJBL action Friday night, Jan. 20, at MHS.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos
Mancos freshman Darren Daves leaps for a layup as Telluride's Jay Ellison (1) defends in vain Friday night, Jan. 20, during SJBL action at MHS.Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Kaiden Wyatt (center) and freshman Darren Daves (30) sandwich Telluride's Grayson Berry while vying for a rebound during SJBL action Friday night, Jan. 20, at MHS. Jo<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Again, the Bluejays responded, with sophomore Kaiden Wyatt establishing his presence in the paint, adding a couple of big buckets as Mancos scored the final eight points of the half to restore the 17-point lead. Veach knocked in four of his six three-pointers in the first half, scoring 16 in the half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the perimeter shots are dropping, we\u2019re a tough team to beat,\u201d said Mancos first-year head coach Dusty Veach. The Jays made eight three-pointers as a team, with Veach\u2019s clinic leading the way.<\/p>\n

The career day for Veach continued into the third quarter, adding eight more points, while the Jays kept another Telluride surge at bay. Miner junior Cash Livermore kept the visitors within reach with a pair of third quarter threes, but every rally met a stern Mancos response.<\/p>\n

Leading 57-40 going into the fourth, junior Andrew Jaime knocked in a pair of dagger jumpers, bringing his personal total to double figures while helping the Bluejays see out the final eight minutes and pick up a quality home win heading into a pivotal week against local rivals.<\/p>\n

Veach finished the night with 28 points, while Wyatt (12) and Jaime (11) broke into double figures for Mancos. Junior Chris Medina scored seven points, while freshman Cory Carver chipped in with five in the Jays victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys really bought into the team \u2013 we\u2019ve dealt with a lot of injuries from early in the season,\u201d added Veach, \u201cand now we\u2019re starting to play to our potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

After falling behind by 17 after one quarter, Telluride played even with Mancos in each of the subsequent three quarters \u2013 a testament that Veach gave the Miners\u2019 intensity on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a tough team \u2013 they\u2019re physical,\u201d said Veach, \u201cand it took our kids playing as a team to come out with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merritt paced Telluride with 18 points, as the two teams will meet again in San Miguel County on Saturday, Feb. 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a unified team,\u201d added Veach, \u201cand right now we\u2019ve got one goal in mind \u2013 and that\u2019s to win a league title.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Mancos turns their focus to Colorado Highway 184 rivals Dolores on Tuesday, Jan. 24 for a clash with the Bears. Then, three days later, the Bluejays and Dove Creek Bulldogs will meet for their lone league clash of the season. Both of the local rivalry games will be available on local radio station 98.7 FM KRTZ as the league title chase takes shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veach\u2019s 28 points lead streaking Mancos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[600,28,37,29,97],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-basketball","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-telluride"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83252,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36172\/revisions\/83252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36172"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}