One day after winning the team’s first league title in a decade and 20th game of its season, the Durango High School boys basketball team got the reward it was looking for.
The Demons received the overall fourth seed in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s 4A boys basketball state tournament when the brackets were revealed on Sunday. According to the team’s assistant coach Dalon Parker, it is the highest boys basketball state tournament seed in school history. The Demons will host the first of potentially three playoff games at DHS Saturday night.
“I saw that we moved to fourth after our win Saturday, but I was skeptical because of the way the soccer team kind of got a raw deal,” Durango High School head coach Alan Batiste said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “When I saw we stayed there, as the last regional top seed, I went crazy. You just never know with this RPI stuff because it’s kind of hard to figure out, but it was great to see that we got the respect we think we deserve.”
Durango (20-3) got the highest seed in the Bill Weimar bracket and has the luxury of a bye week to recoup after three games in four nights. On top of that, the Demons have home-court advantage through the Elite 8. If they win all three games, they’ll head to the Denver Coliseum, March 10, for the Final 4.
“Nobody knows the travel grind like we do,” Batiste said. “It’ll be nice for the boys to sleep in their own beds. Now, someone else can worry about driving over the mountain, all the way here in the elements, and figure out what to do all day before the game.”
The first team to make the trip to DHS will be the winner between No. 29 Elizabeth (11-12) and No. 36 Niwot (10-13). After that, it’ll be either No. 13 Evergreen (18-5), No. 20 Fort Morgan (14-9) or No. 45 Skyline (10-13). The overall fifth-seed, next highest in the Bill Weimar bracket, is Holy Family (19-4) which went a perfect 14-0 en route to a 4A Tri-Valley league title.
No. 12 Golden (16-7) and 21st-seed Longmont (12-11) are also potential Elite 8 matchups if the Demons take care of business on their home floor.
Valor Christian (19-4) is the overall top seed in the 4A class. Pueblo South (17-6) is second and D’Evelyn (19-4) was awarded the third top seed.
Durango will take a few days off and, in a gesture of Southwest Colorado solidarity, will have a light scrimmage with Bayfield on Tuesday to keep the teams fresh and get some quality minutes for guys that haven’t been able to do so down the frantic home stretch of the regular season.
“I felt like what we just went through was comparable to a district tournament,” Batiste said. “Our guys showed what kind of resilience they have and when you conquer goals when the odds are against you, that’s when amazing things start happening. However, it’s a brand new season. None of that is going to matter when the lights are shining on Saturday. We have to keep our edge and just play Durango basketball.”
Saturday’s game against the Elizabeth-Niwot winner is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Durango High School, and there’s no question that the Red Sea will be rocking and rolling as the opponents try to navigate through the difficult waters.
“Our crowd gives us a huge advantage,” Batiste said. “We’ll be there Friday right there with them when the girls play, and we know they’ll be making noise for us Saturday.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
