Bulldogs end season on 3 game skid

After winning back to back games to snap a six game skid the Douglas Bulldogs closed out the regular season last week losing three straight games on the road to finish the year 10-15.

The Bulldogs began the week losing to Buena 52-20.

The Colts led 12-1 at the end of the first quarter, 26-9 at the half and in the second half outscored Douglas 24-12.

Buena’s defense forced 33 turnovers this game.

Eduardo Ysea and Adrian Pena each scored five points to lead the Bulldogs in scoring. Ignacio Valenzuela and Alan Arias each followed with four.

On Thursday, Jan. 31 the Bulldogs were in Rio Rico where they fell 67-50.

Rio Rico led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter but used a 19-5 second quarter run to take a 37-17 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs outscored Rio Rico 21-14 in the fourth quarter but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.

Ysea led Douglas in scoring with nine points. Nick Menduette and Diego Galindo each followed with eight.

“(We) had a slow first half but played much better in the second half,” Douglas’ basketball coach Oscar Mariscal said. “(The) kids hung in there and never stopped playing hard. Good to see them continue to compete.”

On Feb. 1 the Bulldogs were at Cienega for the season finale.

Cienega led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter before blowing the game open in the second in what would be a 19-5 run as the Bobcats led 31-14 at the half.

Cienega outscored Douglas 33-19 the second half.

Menduette and Ysea each scored seven points to lead the Dogs in scoring. Padilla followed with four.

“Last game of the season, kids played well all year,” Coach Mariscal said. “They worked very hard and their effort was great. Losing three seniors as we move into a new schedule and alignment for next year.”

The Bulldogs ended up 49th out of 65 teams in the Division II power rankings and were 16th out of 21 teams in Section 1.

Douglas’ JV’s lost all three games last week losing to Buena 76-34; Rio Rico 60-50 and Cienega 60-30. No other details were available from the Douglas coaches.

The Bulldogs freshmen team ended their season last week with three road games. The first game was Jan. 29 against Buena, which the Bulldogs had lost to earlier in the season. The rematch resulted in the same outcome with Buena winning easily 78-36. Jesus Cisneros led the Bulldogs with 16 points and five assists

On Thursday, the Dogs traveled to Rio Rico to face the Hawks. In what would become their best offensive game of the year the Bulldogs won a very hard fought game 80-72. Dwight Swanson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 25 points including going 9-10 from the free throw line. Alejandro Villalobos scored 21 points and had five assists and Jesus Cisneros added 16 points and four rebounds.

The Bulldogs had little time to celebrate as they had to travel to Cienega on Friday to conclude their season. In another rematch, Douglas looked to avenge their 28 point loss to the Bobcats from earlier in the season. Douglas started off very slow trailing in the first quarter by a score of 22-6. Fighting like Bulldogs, they were able to win the second quarter 23-9 to go into halftime down by two points 31-29.

The second half would prove to be just as challenging. Surprising the Bobcats, Douglas was able to take and keep the lead going into the fourth quarter. The Bobcats refused to give up and managed to tie the game at 53 with a chance for the last shot with 10 seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs defense did not collapse and forced a bad shot that would miss as time expired sending the game into overtime. In overtime, the Bobcats size took over and Cienega came away with a 63-56 win.

The game was also the final game for freshmen coach Abe Grijalva.

"I am very proud of these kids for the way the competed all season long,” he said. “Douglas has never had the tallest kids but we've always played with pride and this group is no different. Our goal this season was to improve from last year's team and we did that. By finishing 6-6 on the season, we were able to accomplish something that we haven't been able to do at the freshman level in about six years. I told the kids that I will always remember this team as it will be my last.”