It was a senior leader who made the difference for Durango’s boys basketball team in Saturday’s matchup at rival Montrose.

With the team’s leading scorer, Orion Clay, out after taking an elbow to the face in Friday’s loss at Fruita Monument, Durango (10-5, 3-2 5A/4A Southwestern League) needed someone to fill his shoes. While the Demons got quality performances from a number of players, it was senior Terrence Trujillo who took matters into his own hands. The always business-like Trujillo scored the team’s first eight points and led the team with 17 as Durango hung on to beat Montrose 60-57.

Steven Wyman started for Clay and made the most of the opportunity by dropping eight points and leading the team with 12 rebounds. Seth Gilleland added 10 points and seven rebounds, while senior Lucas Baken had 10 points in the win.

“We needed guys to step up in a tough environment with one of our best players out, and they did,” head coach Alan Batiste said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “With (Orion Clay) out, we had to try some different things and the guys made it happen. It’s tough to win here so this one was big for us.”

Batiste decided to put Trujillo in the post to exploit a size advantage the senior guard had over his counterpart. The result was effective, as Trujillo got off to the hot start.

The Demons held a four-point lead at halftime and built it to nine late in the game before the home team gave a final push.

Montrose (4-11, 1-4 SWL) started pouring in 3-pointers, but it was a Trujillo 3 late that padded the Durango lead and halted the unlikely comeback.

“Terrence is such an intelligent kid, and it’ll be tough to replace him,” Batiste said. “We don’t have to worry about that yet, but we need more of that from everyone, especially heading into the hostile environments in Grand Junction next week.”

Durango will face a 7 p.m. Friday matchup with first place Grand Junction and a 1:30 p.m. Saturday tip with Grand Junction Central.

jfries@durangoherald.com