A big second half sent the Durango Demons to a season-opening win Thursday at Shiprock’s Jerry Richardson Memorial Tournament.
Durango faced the shorthanded Bloomfield Bobcats, who were missing a few boys who will play for a football state championship at Taos this week. The Demons trailed 24-22 at halftime but turned it around in the second half to secure a 49-35 victory.
“We stopped their transition offense,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “I think they had 10 or 12 transition points in the first half for easy buckets, and we held them to zero in the second half. Defensively, we stepped up big inside and went back from our man defense to zone, so it was good to see.”
Martin Kuntz and Cullen Robinette led Durango’s offense with 14 points each. Batiste said the big men – Colby Basye, Esai Gomez, Al Hurworth, Carver Willis and Kuntz – helped the Demons score easy buckets in the second half.
“We pretty much dominated inside,” Batiste said.
After only four wins last season, Batiste was happy to see his team get an early win to develop some confidence. The team will play Navajo Prep at 4:30 p.m. Friday. The Eagles beat Aztec 51-40 on Thursday.
“These boys coming back from last year, they hadn’t won a game in a long time,” Batiste said. “The energy was good, the chemistry was good and the character was good. That’s all I’m looking for right now is those off court things that help us on the court.”
Girls Basketball
Girls BasketballThe Durango Demons faced a stiff test in the season opener against a Dulce Hawks team that won 19 games last season.
Durango led 32-31 with 3.7 seconds to play when the Hawks got the ball back for a final possession in the fourth quarter. Chancey Vicenti made the most of it, as she ran into the lane and made a layup to send Dulce (1-0) to a 33-32 win against the Demons (0-1). It was the first game of Shiprock’s Jerry Richardson Memorial Tournament.
“The young lady hit a shot that beat us,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “Overall, I was really pleased with the effort. We played extremely hard, and so it was a great first game to see where we are.”
Durango had to play at 9 a.m. Thursday morning and again will play at 9 a.m. Friday in the consolation bracket against Whitehorse, Utah, which lost 63-26 to Farmington on Thursday afternoon.
Tayler Dossey led Durango in scoring with 10 points. Danielle Lee and Kyle Rowland each added six points. Durango led 16-12 at halftime but trailed by two after three quarters in a close game throughout.
“Dulce, that’s a good team that won a lot of games last year, and they had everyone back, so it was a great first game to test us,” Fitzpatrick said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
