Open gyms, practices, scrimmages – all leading to this.
After an offseason of work, the Durango High School basketball team will hit the floor for the first time in the 2013-14 season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Kirtland Central at DHS.
It’s about this time each year where basketball players get tired of seeing teammates facing them down in practice. And not a moment too soon, the Demons will get to try out their stingy defense and up-tempo offense on someone else.
“The boys are ready,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said Monday. “Again, they’re tired of kind of playing each other the last three months. ... They know this is the real deal.”
The Demons will try to get a stingy defense going again early to go with what they hope is a balance offensive attack predicated on pushing the pace. DHS allowed an average of just more than 41 points per game a season ago, and the Demons allowed Kirtland Central to score just 27 points in a 37-27 victory a season ago.
The Broncos, meanwhile, return their top two scoring threats in 6-5 Christian Mackey (16.9 points per game) and 6-1 Joseph Willie (9.3 ppg), which will test Durango’s ability to defend the post early.
“With (Mackey), it’s just kind of playing him straight up,” Batiste said. “We know he likes to kind of shoot that outside jumper.
“They like to zone up and then press on defense at times full-court. We know it’s always a tough game.”
Durango will counter in the size department with 6-6 Trent Andrews, who’s expected to take on a bigger role now as a senior following the departure of frountcourt staple Nick Hamlin to graduation.
And the Demons will try to get out and run Kirtland Central off the floor. If the Broncos have problems getting the ball up the floor, it severely limits the offensive impact players such as Mackey and Willie have while allowing DHS to force turnovers and get easy buckets on the other end.
This early in the season, that’s easier said than done. But Batiste said he’s liked what he’s seen in practice as well as scrimmages a little more than a week ago against Bayfield and Ignacio.
“I’ve got the confidence that we’re going to be able to do that in a game,” he said. “It helps the boys out a little bit because we can have a track meet ... but I always tell the boys to move the ball around and get a feel for the game.
“We’ll take layups over having to run an offense on any given day.”
And while the crown jewel of the regular season is the Southwestern League championship, these pre-holiday break games can be critical in setting the Demons up for success come January, February and March.
“I think that preseason before Christmas break is always important, especially when you’re winning and building that confidence,” batiste said. “You go into that break having the confidence to start up that conference season.
“We play hard. Everybody wants to win; wins always look good. But we definitely want to try and have that fast start. But our main focus is playing game by game.”
rowens@durangoherald.com
