The Durango boys basketball team couldn’t make shots on Wednesday night at home against Montrose. Whether it was from the paint, midrange, free-throw line or beyond the 3-point arc, the Montrose defense held Durango to a season-low 26 points in a 37-26 win.
“We try to come with a game plan and we know we can't play in the 20s; that's not us,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said. “That was a game plan that we tried to approach all week. Shots didn't fall, but we were stagnating on offense a little bit.”
After the senior night loss, Durango fell to 13-8 overall and 4-4 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. The Demons shot 5-15 from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard King Kerlin led the Demons with seven points and senior forward Ethan White added six. Durango’s 26 points is the least it’s scored in a game since Feb. 17, 2024 in a 43-25 loss to Fruita Monument.
Montrose improved to 17-5 overall and 6-3 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Senior forward Kaleb Ferguson led the Red Hawks with 16 points. CJ Rocco added 11 points for Montrose.
Before the game, Durango’s six seniors (White, Noah Miles, Marcus Cullum, Otto Aaland, Kyler Harbison, Connor Theine) were honored with their parents alongside the Durango girls basketball seniors.
The Demons started the game out in a defensive battle and led early with some baskets inside. The problem was, Montrose started scoring and Durango couldn’t respond.
After trailing 9-5 at the end of the first, the Demons were sloppy with the ball and weren’t making any outside shots in the second. Montrose found some success inside with some good interior passing and finishes. Montrose took a 19-9 lead into halftime.
“We were holding the ball too long and guys were just staring at the basketball rather than our normal offensive cutting,” Batiste said. “You have to get those back cuts against a defense that stays pretty solid. Montrose does an excellent job on defense.”
Cullum provided a small spark offensively to start the third but Durango gave up a lot of open looks, continued to turn the ball over and had some trouble guarding inside.
The Demons did a good job of getting to the line but struggled to convert to cut the deficit. Kerlin was especially creative with his foul-drawing abilities, much to the dismay of the Montrose fans.
Kerlin finished the quarter with an impressive array of dribbling moves to get to the basket. He had a great pass to Aaland for a score and finished a reverse layup at the buzzer to cut Montrose’s lead to 26-19 heading into the fourth.
“What I tell him is to get to the basket … We're just trying to tell him to force the issue,” Batiste said about Kerlin. “He got downhill in that second half which was great. But I have to reinforce sometimes that I need him to listen to me a little bit, because you eventually have to turn into a student of the game. Playing the point guard, you have to be an extension of the head coach. No matter what. I don't care what level you're playing at.”
A 3-pointer by Kerlin cut the Montrose lead to 26-22 with 7:30 to go. The Red Hawks went away from Ferguson and it cost them on the offensive end; they struggled to penetrate and when they did they didn’t finish.
The Demons kept the score at 26-22 for a few minutes with their defense. However, they couldn’t make anything on the offensive end to challenge the Red Hawks.
Ferguson put up a midrange shot and Montrose finished a layup in short succession to go up 30-22 with 3:40 to go. Durango couldn’t respond and Montrose cruised to an easy victory.
The Demons play at Grand Junction on Friday at 7 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
