The Douglas Bulldog basketball team went 3-2 at the San Carlos Basketball tournament last weekend finishing third place.

Jesse Arias landed All-Tournament honors for Douglas at the San Carlos tournament last weekend. The Bulldogs went 3-2 taking third place. Arias led Douglas in scoring all five games. Bruce Whetten/Douglas Dispatch

Twelve teams took part in the two-day tournament which featured a running clock.

Thursday was pool play and the Bulldogs opened with Joy Christian, a private school out of Phoenix.

The Bulldogs won the game 68-53 as Jesse Arias scored 39 points and Dominic Barraza followed with eight.

Douglas then faced Bourgade, another private school out of Phoenix and fell 46-37 as Arias had 15 points and Xavier Altamirano chipped in 10.

Douglas went 1-1 in pool play and landed the No. 2 seed going into the single elimination which began Friday.

When the Douglas played awoke Friday morning to begin tournament play snow covered the town where the tournament was playing and the players had a brief snowball fight before playing what would amount to three straight games.

The Bulldogs had the unfortunate task of playing San Carlos, the host team, in the first round of the tournament.

Arias scored 21 points this game and Alexio Esquer chipped in six as the Bulldogs pulled out a 45-32 win.

Next up was South Mountain of Phoenix. The Bulldogs dropped this game 47-26 as Arias had 14 points and Altamirano four.

The Bulldogs then faced Superior for third place and came away with a 74-25 win.

Arias had 25 points this game. Jesus Cordova chipped in 10.

Arias landed all-tournament honors for his play at the tournament.

Douglas’ basketball coach Oscar Mariscal said being able to play five games in two days was good for his team.

“We were able to get a lot of kids some good game experience,” he said. “We took 14 kids; all of them were able to play and I was very happy by what I saw.”

The coach said it was good to play teams they normally don’t see during the regular season.

Playing with a running clock was a challenge the coach said because the game moves quicker and before you know it its’ half time.

“You have to adjust quickly because the clock is moving,” he said.

The Bulldogs, 10-4, are now off Jan. 3 when they head to Willcox for a rematch with the Cowboys. The next day Douglas is at Catalina.

“I like the way these kids are playing,” he said. “Their effort is great, they practice hard. We’re excited going into the New Year. We just hope we can continue to make it happen.”