{"id":36730,"date":"2022-12-18T00:34:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T07:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-edges-monticello-for-holiday-title\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:33:00","slug":"dove-creek-edges-monticello-for-holiday-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dove-creek-edges-monticello-for-holiday-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Dove Creek edges Monticello for holiday title"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Kade Hankins brings the ball in transition with classmate Asher Nye against Landon Ewert and Donny Atwood of Monticello. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Dove Creek boys basketball has developed a flair for the dramatic. In yet another tight game, the Bulldogs leaned on their senior leadership down the stretch of their Border War meeting with Monticello to pick up a 39-36 victory on their home floor to close out a perfect weekend for D.C. hoops.<\/p>\n

For the second time in two years, the Buckaroos and Bulldogs met to decide the Bulldog Holiday Classic title \u2013 and in both meetings, the game came down to the final possessions. Late free throws put Dove Creek over the top, breaking a 36-all tie in the closing stages, sending Dove Creek to their second consecutive home tournament crown and their third consecutive win heading into the holidays.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek (6-2) advanced to the championship game with a 49-32 win over Nucla (2-3) on Friday evening, and followed up their effort against tough Buckaroo pressure by grinding out the game in the second half.<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Kade Hankins guards Monticello senior Easton Young in a game at DCHS. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Aiden Chadd brings the ball up the court in a contest against Monticello at DCHS. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Kendall Gardner and the DC starting five await their introduction in their home tournament contest against Monticello. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek head coach Aaron Hankins and the DC bench watches their team in a contest at DCHS. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Bulldogs used a strong second quarter to swing momentum in their favor, as senior Kade Hankins scored 10 of his game-high 11 before the intermission as the Bulldogs established a 22-14 edge through two quarters.<\/p>\n

Monticello (3-5) battled back in the third behind senior Easton Young\u2019s 11 points for the visitors. With less than two minutes to go, the Buckaroos tied the game, but Dove Creek senior Tanner Williams answered by drawing a foul and draining free throws to restore the Bulldogs lead. Late Monticello attempts to tie the contest fell off the rim, and D.C. could celebrate back-to-back holiday tournament titles.<\/p>\n

Senior Asher Nye and sophomore Sheldon Gardner made life difficult in the interior for the Buckaroos offense, forcing Monticello to knock down perimeter shots.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, after a quiet game against Nucla, senior Cole Taber tallied eight big points for head coach Aaron Hankins\u2019 Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

Williams finished with nine points, a day after pouring in a dozen against the Mustangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to come in here and win our home tournament \u2013 that\u2019s always the goal,\u201d said Hankins, \u201cbut to do it with high energy. That\u2019s something we can build on moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their holiday tournament opener, Dove Creek controlled the tempo from the early stages against league foe Nucla, turning errant passes into transition points, led by 20 tallies from Hankins.<\/p>\n

The Mustangs stayed within double figures early in the fourth quarter thanks to hot shooting from freshman Brycen Rummel, but D.C. junior Gage Buffington helped close the door with a pair of big baskets down the stretch to keep Nucla at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n

An early season three-point victory over Ignacio, balanced with a tough one-point loss to Ouray, have Hankins\u2019 team ready to handle late-game pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still transitioning football players into basketball players,\u201d said Hankins of his team\u2019s shift after the state title football season, \u201cso we\u2019re looking to get off to stronger starts in games, and be able to sustain that for four quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

After making their maiden trip to the state tournament in 2022, the Bulldogs now know that they will be getting the full attention of every opponent on their San Juan Basin League schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seniors are used to pressure by now,\u201d said Hankins of his upperclassmen, \u201cand this group has had a ton of growth over their four years \u2013 and they\u2019ve really developed their court knowledge and can handle the ups and downs on the court with maturity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek will see both of their holiday tournament foes again in January, as they meet Nucla in their league opener on Friday, Jan. 13, before a rematch against Monticello on Jan. 24. The Bulldogs also face a rematch against Ouray on Jan. 20, and then close the month with a home dual against Mancos on Jan. 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bulldogs head to holiday break on a high note<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36730","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=36730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83432,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36730\/revisions\/83432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36730"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}