A week after beating Littleton to secure fifth place and finish strong at Ponderosa’s tournament, the Durango High School boys basketball team struggled in New Mexico at Farmington’s tournament and went 0-3.
“We were in a good place after that Denver trip, but we really took a step back losing three in a row,” said DHS head coach Alan Batiste. “It was definitely an eye-opener moving forward into the new year.”
The Demons lost to Gallup 64-62 in the first round Thursday.
The Demons then fell behind Farmington 18-2 after the first quarter and lost 67-43 on Friday.
Saturday, Durango led Bloomfield 12-10 after the first quarter and went into halftime tied at 21. Bloomfield, however, outscored the Demons 15-8 in the third quarter and held off a DHS rally in the fourth to win the game 45-41.
“These teams want to beat us around here,” Batiste said. “We’ve got to start playing with a chip on our shoulder. We can’t just show up and act like they’ll lay down for us.”
Anthony Flint, who scored 22 points against Gallup, 12 against Bloomfield and seven against Farmington, was named to the all-tournament team for Durango.
The Demons are now 5-5 overall heading into the winter break.
After the holidays, DHS will compete against Bayfield Jan. 7 and Montezuma-Cortez Jan. 8 in the Southwest Classic. Bayfield, which will host the tournament’s sixth edition, will play Ignacio June 8.
Ignacio will play Montezuma-Cortez in the first round Jan. 7.
“I think we have an excellent team. We just have to figure it out,” Batiste said.
