DN boys B-ball team gets by Bandon 47-44

It might not have been pretty at times, but a win’s a win afterall.

On Saturday, the Del Norte Warriors varsity boys basketball team downed Bandon, Ore., 47-44 in the second game of a tournament in Brookings.

Friday night, the Warriors were crushed by Phoenix, the defending 4A Oregon champs, 84-49.

Del Norte was up a comfortable 11 points at the end of the first half and by as much as 16.

But, head coach Blaine Lopez said, Bandon “kept chipping away,” until the Warriors had only a two- point advantage with around a minute left. A free throw gave Del Norte a three-point advantage, which is how they ended the game.

With such a young team, with only three players and zero starters back from last year, Lopez said this squad is a true work in progress.

“We played pretty well for a half, but we let things slip away from us,” he said.  With a number of players new to the team and  the varsity level the needed constancy on both sides of the ball is not there yet, Lopez said.

“We are just trying to get better every day,” he said. “We’ve got to learn to play as hard as we can for the entire 32 minutes.”

Del Norte improved to 2-3 for the year.

In junior varsity action, the Warriors went 1-2 over the weekend at a tournament in Chico.

The Del Norte varsity squad will play at home for the first time this year as they host the Warrior Classic. On Thursday they will face Brookings at 7 p.m. They will not play on Friday but resume play on Saturday when they host Hoopa at 4 p.m.