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Pirates bounce back, go 2-1 over week

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The Pagosa Springs High School boys’ basketball team went 2-1 in a trio of games Jan. 24-28 that saw the Pirates rebound from a win with a loss and carry that momentum into a decisive victory on Tuesday.

Evaluating the team’s one-point, 45-44 home victory over the Alamosa Mean Moose on Jan. 24, coach Wes Lewis described a team he knows is capable of more.

“I was disappointed in our play and effort Friday night even though we won,” Lewis said. “I just didn’t feel like we played to our potential on Friday night. That’s kind of how we felt as a whole, as a coaching staff.”

The Pirates led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, with the Mean Moose holding a 23-21 lead at halftime. Alamosa held a 38-33 lead at the end of the third quarter before the Pirates rallied for the win.

Lewis continued, “I was proud of the guys to find a way to win,” he said, adding, “There’s an old saying that an ugly win beats a pretty loss, and I guess that’s true, although it didn’t really feel like that on the weekend.”

The Pirates’ play would rebound one day later in a hard-fought loss to the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers, who won 55-48.

“I was really happy with our effort and how we played on Saturday even though we lost,” Lewis reflected. “Cortez is a really good team.”

Against the Panthers, the Pirates led for the first quarter and a half of play and traded leads throughout the second, heading into the locker room tied 21-21 at halftime.

The third quarter again saw both teams seesawing for the lead, with Pagosa entering the final eight minutes of play leading by two.

But about two minutes into the fourth quarter, with the Pirates leading 40-39, Colt Lewis injured his right ankle, which caused him to exit the game. 

The Pirates scored eight more points to the Panthers’ 16 following his departure.

“We struggled with some turnovers right there after he left,” Wes Lewis recalled. “Then they kind of settled back down and got reorganized and got a little bit better, but, unfortunately, we went from a lead to a little bit of a deficit and just couldn’t get back over the hump.”

Colt Lewis briefly attempted to rejoin the game in its final minutes, but soon exited for the remainder of the team’s 48-55 loss.

“I felt really good about the effort,” Wes Lewis said. “We just had some key turnovers … that really hurt us in some key times. Our turnovers led to uncontested layups for them and that was tough on us.”

Minus Colt Lewis, whose status remains in question, the coach called Tuesday’s win over the Del Norte Tigers a “bounce back” and credited a big offensive outing by senior Seth Zeigler, among others, for the 51-32 win.

“We played very well in Del Norte,” he said. “We had a big game from Seth offensively, had a big game rebounding from Jaxten Scheil. Luke Kinsley came in off the JV bench and played really well.”

After Tuesday’s win, the Pirates sit at 2-2 in 3A/4A Intermountain League play with their overall record at 4-10 as the team prepares to visit Bayfield on Friday and host Centauri on Saturday.

The game against Bayfield, currently 3-1 in league play, is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Bayfield High School.

Centauri is undefeated on the season, standing at 5-0 in league play and 15-0 overall. That contest is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Saturday at Pagosa Springs High School.