Friday night’s Durango boys basketball conference home opener against Grand Junction was a tough one from the start for the Demons.
Grand Junction (11-4, 2-0 Class 4A/5A Southwestern League) came out of the locker room sizzling from the field and made seven first-half 3-pointers en route to a 62-45 win in Durango.
Tigers senior guard Robi Powers was in rhythm from the opening tip. Powers made five 3s – four in the first half – and led Grand Junction with 20 points. Jake Wilcox added 13 points for the Tigers in the win.
“It was a great start especially on the road,” said Grand Junction head coach Isaac Madison. “The returning kids were kind of upset with the way things turned out last year, and we wanted to make a statement in this one.”
The statement was heard loud and clear, as the Tigers offense silenced the home crowd early with impressive execution.
Wilcox’s 3-pointer on the first Tigers’ possession gave them a lead they would never give up. The sharp shooting of the visitors and an uncharacteristically sloppy Durango offense led to a 21-6 first half Grand Junction run that buried the Demons.
“I’m not sure what the deal is with these teams coming in here and shooting the lights out,” said Durango head coach Alan Batiste. “At the same time, we’ve got to do a better job of getting a hand in their face. At the end of the day, we have to guard the basketball better.”
Down 17 at halftime, Durango (7-4, 0-1 SWL) tried its best to claw back into it.
Demons’ senior Orion Clay was a bright spot for Durango with 20 points, but Clay had little help from his teammates as the next leading scorer, Scott Morse, had seven.
Clay’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter cut the Durango deficit to 12, but the Tigers responded with an 8-0 run that deflated the rowdy DHS crowd and put away a tired, defeated and disappointed looking Durango squad.
A late dunk by Clay got the crowd fired up temporarily, but it was far too late to have an impact on the outcome.
“When they’re hitting shots, we have to respond better,” said Clay, son of Amee and Daron Clay. “We took a lot of quick shots and had some bad possessions that cost us. We need to be more careful with the ball and take our time to get better looks, especially when the other team is hot like that. We need to come out and do a better job (Saturday).”
The Demons will try find a response and even up their conference record at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against a tough Grand Junction Central team.
jfries@durangoherald.com
