Canyon del Oro had a very difficult season last year, the kind of season that most try to forget but one that can give a team a starting point for a new era. That 0-12 campaign morphed into a season of promise this winter with the Dorados sitting on a 5-2 record heading into the holiday tournament break under head coach Jason Apodaca.

Canyon del Oro beat Mica Mountain 72-63 Thursday night to get that fifth win but the final score was not an indicator of how difficult that victory was. The Thunderbolts played a junior varsity schedule last year and this is first varsity season for the program located in the Vail School District. Former Laveen Cesar Chavez coach Gary Lee is in charge and this is the second time he has built a program from scratch, collecting 402 wins as the first coach in Cesar Chavez history starting in 1999.

Lee led Cesar Chavez to two runner-up finishes (2010 and 2012) and it might be just a matter of time before the wins start coming for the Bolts as well. The team is now 3-4 on the year including big wins against Amphitheater and Rincon/University.

It looked like the Thunderbolts were on their way to another major victory after taking an early 14-2 lead on the road but the Dorados stormed right back to take a 17-16 lead with 1:55 left in the quarter thanks to a couple of quick buckets from Tyson Helms and a 3-point shot from Charlie Allard. Kaspen Colbert hit a 3 of his own to retake the lead and the quarter ended with a 19-19 tie.

Isaiah Berg put Mica Mountain up 34-33 with 1:10 left in the half and that was the last lead the Bolts would hold the rest of the way. The Dorados led 40-36 at the half and 51-39 with 4:08 left in the third but that’s when Berg started to heat up. Berg finished with a game-high 27 points and 12 of those came in the final 3:51 of the third but the Dorados still led 60-55 heading to the fourth.

Berg cut the lead down to 60-57 to start the fourth quarter and he cut the lead down to 64-60 with 4:21 left but Harrison Byrnes scored moments later to make it 66-60. The score would remain 66-60 for about three minutes with the Dorados missing shots and the Bolts committing four costly turnovers in that time which that proved to be the difference with Tyler Helms and Allard making free throws down the stretch for the 72-63 win.

Helms led Canyon del Oro with 26 points, Allard had 16, Will Dixion added 11 and Jose Zazueta had 7. Berg had his 27 points, Jacob Flores-Banuelos scored 16, Jonah Garcia had 9 and Colbert finished with 7.

Both programs have losses to Sahuaro this year and the Cougars are 7-0 on the year which included a championship at the Dick McConnell Thanksgiving Classic held at Pima College. Mica Mountain will host the next Pima College tournament, the Aztec Classic Christmas Invitational, starting on Monday, Dec. 20 with a game set against Amphitheater (2-7) to open up play. The Dorados are headed to the Winter Hoops Shootout at Cactus High School and the team will face Metairie Park Country Day (4-4) out of Louisiana on Dec. 28.

There are 18 winter tournaments scheduled on the boy’s side this year and 13 on the girl’s side and that includes the mega Nike Tournament of Champions (Dec. 18-20) that features 103 teams set to play at six high schools in the Tempe area. 28 of those teams are from Arizona including Salpointe and Pueblo representing Tucson.