San Juan boys basketball team takes lumps early in week, but rallies for win over Bayfield

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School boys basketball team knew they were in for a tough test this past week with American Leadership Academy and American Heritage paying visits to the SJHS gym.
On Tuesday, December 5 the Broncos faced American Leadership Academy. The team came out flat, falling behind 11-6 after one quarter of play.
The Eagles continued to increase their lead for the remainder of the game, ultimately winning 54 to 41. The loss dropped the Broncos to 1-4 on the season with still two games remaining to finish the week.
Anthony Done led San Juan scoring in the loss with 13 points. Jagger Nieves, Justice Black, and Tripp Palmer all scored six apiece. RJ Dalley had five, Keaton Ivins scored three, and Jake Ivins added two.
Dalley, Nieves, and Done all hit one three-pointer each. Done completed a double-double with ten rebounds. Palmer had nine boards, Nieves and Black pulled down five apiece, and Ivins and Dalley both had four.
Following the loss San Juan Head Coach Easton Nielson said he and his assistant coaches know what the team is capable of, but they were just waiting for the players to discover that as well.
They had a golden opportunity against a very tough American Heritage squad on Friday, December 15. Coming into the game the Patriots were averaging 74 points per game while the Broncos were averaging 46. From the start of the game this past Friday it was clear San Juan had their hands more than full with the fast, skilled American Heritage attack.
But after spotting their opponents a 25-14 lead after one quarter, the Broncos showed their tenacity and proved they were in the fight for the duration of what would become a very hard-fought, tense game.
The Patriots continued to stretch their lead to 44-30 at the half, but San Juan battled back to win the third quarter 19-17. The Broncos decreased the deficit to just seven points twice in the second half, but were unable to pull any closer, falling by a final score of 83-67.
Though San Juan couldn’t put a “W” on paper, in many ways it was a win for the team. They proved to themselves and their coaches, maybe for the first time, that they belong on the court with a good basketball team.
The Broncos got quality contributions from several players who had not seen significant time yet this season. And they fought together as a unit during some testy confrontational moments during the game.
Jake Ivins was the leading scorer in the loss with 15 points. RJ Dalley helped out with 12. Anthony Done scored nine points for the Broncos and Tripp Palmer came off the bench for eight.
Owen Adams also saw his first major minutes of the season, scoring seven points for the hometown squad. And Jaiten Knight hit a couple key three-pointers in the second half to finish with six points. Jagger Nieves also came off the bench to score four points. Starters Brigham Nielson and Justice Black added four and two respectively.
In addition to Nieves’s two threes, Jake Ivins hit two and RJ Dalley scored one. Done led the team with seven rebounds. Dalley had five, Ivins and Nieves pulled down four apiece, and Palmer had two boards.
Following the game, San Juan Head Coach Easton Nielson agreed it was the type of game that could springboard the team to a great season. That came to fruition in a way when the Broncos welcomed the Bayfield, CO Wolverines to Blanding on Saturday, December 16.
Though the competition was nowhere near as stiff as they had faced in the previous games in the week, San Juan still looked like a more fine-tuned group.
The Broncos led 21-5 after one quarter and 36-22 at halftime. They only allowed three Wolverine points in the third quarter while scoring 19, and they finished off a 71-40 win with a 16-15 fourth quarter.
Anthony Done and Jake Ivins led scoring in the win with 20 and 16 points respectively, but San Juan got some good bench contribution again with Jagger Nieves and Jaiten Knight scoring 13 and eight points respectively.
RJ Dalley scored five in the win; Keaton Ivins dropped in three; and Owen Adams, Justice Black, and Tripp Palmer all added two apiece. Knight was again strong from long range with two threes on the night.
Done hit a couple threes as well, and Nieves had one. Done pulled down nine rebounds, Keaton and Jake had eight apiece, Palmer had five, and Dalley collected four.
Coach Nielson was proud of his team’s effort against Bayfield. “It was important to win this game the right way,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot across the last six games and we wanted to show that, and I feel like we were able to capitalize on some of the lessons learned.”
Nielson stated that, though the team still has some things to work on, “we’re really excited. We grew a lot as a team this week. That was our goal, and the wins are going to start coming.”
San Juan is now 2-5 on the year with a busy week ahead to close out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule. They played in Cortez on Tuesday, December 12, too late for the print deadline.
This Friday and Saturday the Broncos will play in a round-robin tournament in Enterprise. They open against Rowland Hall at 4 p.m. on Friday.
The winner of that game will play 3 p.m. Saturday and the loser plays at 1:30. Saturday’s opponent will either be Enterprise or American Heritage, so the chance San Juan could get a rematch with the Patriots.
Tuesday, December 19 the Broncos welcome the Monticello Buckaroos to the SJHS gym for their annual pre-Christmas showdown at 7 p.m. All three of those games will be on Redrock 92 and streamutah.live.