Traveling to the Front Range was the best way for Durango High School’s boys basketball team to get in some games.
The Demons at long last opened the 2014-15 boys basketball season Thursday in Parker against Summit in the first round of the Ponderosa High School tournament.
DHS was able to secure a 44-31 win to open the season on a strong note. The loss dropped Summit to 0-3.
“First win in the first game of the season. We’ll take it,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “It’s always a good note to start with a win. It wasn’t pretty, but for the first game we’ll take it.”
Senior forward Caleb Kennedy led the Demons with 15 points and eight rebounds. Batiste called it an all-around blue-collar effort by the entire team.
DHS amassed a 14-point lead halfway through the third quarter and never looked back, even though Batiste estimated his team shot only 20 or 30 percent from the field.
“We got the stops when we needed them and kept that 14-point lead,” he said. “Once we got it, we stayed with it the rest of the game.”
The Demons will play again at 8 p.m. Friday in the second round of the tournament against host Ponderosa.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
