The Durango boys basketball team has become a mainstay in the Colorado High School Activities’ Association’s Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope League Tournament’s championship game.
Durango proved that a well-rounded offense is more valuable than one dominant player in Friday’s 74-52 win against Glenwood Springs and locked up its fourth consecutive trip to the district championship game in the process. DHS (15-7) overcame a game-high 33-point performance from Glenwood Springs’ Cameron Horning to run away from the opponents in the semifinal.
Orion Clay led Durango with 19 points. Steven Wyman had 15 off the bench, and Lucas Baken poured in 10 points in the win.
“I’ve been telling the guys that we’re capable of a late season run, but we have to do it at both ends and tighten it up a bit,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I told them (Thursday night) that we have to start making sacrifices and thinking team first or else it’s over. It’s win or go home time, and I think that made an impression on them.”
Though Horning was on point from long range, Durango’s Demons used the entire bench to run away from the opposing Demons with 43 combined points in the second and third quarters.
Horning made shot after shot down the stretch, but the collective work from the Durango offense had already done enough damage. Wyman’s 15 off the bench were accompanied by Guy Bay’s nine points, and Glenwood Springs (12-10) had no idea who to focus on as shots were falling from a variety of sources.
“I’m lucky enough to have a team where we have a variety of guys who can score 20 on any given night,” Batiste said.
Durango will face Rifle (19-3) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the district championship. Last year the Demons lost in the championship game to Montrose.
jfries@durangoherald.com
