Two dominant guards in Mark Palate and Cavan Pasek are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Dolores Bears will head out on the road to square off against the Ouray Trojans at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Dolores is coming into the matchup on a five-game losing streak.
Dolores suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Tuesday. They were outmatched by Mancos on the road and fell 67-36. While losing is never fun, Dolores can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 310th, while Mancos is ranked 119th).
Meanwhile, Ouray struggled with assists on Friday (Dove Creek had ten more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Ouray lost to Dove Creek on the road by a decisive 52-37 margin. Ouray was down 37-15 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Ouray's defeat came about despite a quality game from Landen Hill, who scored 16 points along with four steals and three blocks. Hill hasn't dropped below two steals for four straight games. Another player making a difference was Pasek, who scored ten points.
Ouray struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. That's the fewest assists they've managed all season.
Dolores' defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 4-9. As for Ouray, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Dolores came up short against Ouray when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 55-47. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pasek, who almost dropped a triple-double on 31 points, 15 rebounds, and nine blocks. Now that Dolores knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
