The blizzard might have been outside, but snowballed downhill in a hurry for Durango’s boys basketball team in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Grand Junction Central.
The Warriors held a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and blew the game wide open in the second with a 19-0 run that the Demons never recovered from. Though the hosts made a late run, it was too little too late as Grand Junction Central hung on to win 56-47.
Warriors senior Kyle Blair was in the zone during the dominant second quarter and scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the frame. Durango’s Steven Wyman had the performance of the day, however, with 22 points and nine blocks in the loss.
“We haven’t played a team with as much talent as Central yet this year and I think it took us awhile to get up to speed,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said. “We couldn’t get anything to fall from the perimeter, but still had a chance to win in the end. They just had such a big second quarter, we couldn’t recover.”
Both teams started slow, but 10 consecutive points by Blair in the second quarter changed the game quickly. It was the perfect storm for the visitors as it took awhile for Wyman to get involved in the first half and the rest of the Demons couldn’t buy a basket.
The DHS deficit was 15 at halftime, but Wyman turned into an unstoppable force in the second half. The senior scored at will and sent numerous shots back where they came from on the defensive end.
“I think this was a good learning experience for us,” Wyman said. “I should have recognized that I had an advantage earlier in the game and I think we learned that it’s going to take a full game of 100 percent effort to compete with teams like this. I know we can, though. We’ll be good.”
Durango (10-2, 0-1 5A/4A Southwestern League) eventually cut the deficit to seven points behind a full-court press that created a slew of turnovers. Unfortunately, DHS never got within striking distance as the Warriors (11-4, 2-0 5A/4A SWL) ran out the clock and converted at the line to hold off Wyman and the Demons.
“Hey, this is a tough place to play and Coach Batiste has had our number here,” Warriors head coach Ryan Hayden said. “He made adjustments at halftime and had us in trouble there for awhile. Proud of our guys for hanging in there because it’s our first win here in the six years I’ve been coaching.”
Kyle Kirkpatrick added 10 points for Durango in the loss.
Durango will try to turn things around Friday at Fruita Monument.
jfries@durangoherald.com
