The Durango High School boys and girls basketball teams both headed to the Front Range to compete in tournaments this weekend.
At the Pueblo County tournament, the Durango girls began by taking down Colorado Springs’ Palmer High School, 53-21, on Thursday.
“It went well,” said head girls coach Tim Fitzpatrick. “I was proud of the kids, especially after a seven-hour bus ride. They really came out to play.”
The coach said the team played well on defense, rebounded well and was efficient on offense.
“It was very workman-like,” Fitzpatrick said. “We just played a really consistent game.”
Sydney Flores had a career night, scoring 19 points for the Demons. Mason Rowland, meanwhile, scored 24 to lead DHS.
Riley Campbell, a guard, led the team in rebounds with 13. “That was huge,” the coach said. “She was boxing out and has the ability to really rebound.”
The team also combined for about 20 assists.
“People were moving the ball and people were hitting shots,” Fitzpatrick said.
The Durango girls were scheduled to play another Colorado Springs team, Widefield, in the second round at 8 p.m. Friday.
While the girls were able to shake off their bus legs, the Durango boys took a while to get going Thursday against Denver South. Denver South won the opening round game, 53-38.
“Our legs weren’t under us last night, and we missed a lot of layups,” said head boys coach Alan Batiste.
Durango trailed Denver South 28-12 at halftime. The Demons won the second half, 26-25, but couldn’t catch the Ravens. “We had a lot of high quality shots, but the ball just rolled off,” Batiste said. “We should have had closer to 60 points.”
On Friday, however, Durango jumped all over Regis Groff and beat the Fusion, 59-39.
“It was a huge bounce back win,” Batiste said. “We definitely played better.”
DHS led 11-0 to start the game, took a 31-16 lead into halftime and grew its lead to a game-high 25 points in the second half.
Anthony Flint scored 17 points to lead DHS. Walter Stauffer scored nine, and Dylan Bettin added eight.
“Anthony had a big game and came out hot, and Walter cleaned up the paint,” Batiste said.
The coach said they played defense well both nights and held Denver South to about 44 points, if you take away some late “garbage buckets.“
“We’re executing on defense pretty well, and I’m proud of their defensive effort,” Batiste said, adding that anytime they hold a team to under 50 points they give themselves a chance to win.
With Friday’s win, Durango advances to the Ponderosa tournament’s fifth-place game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. DHS will take on the winner of Pueblo East and Littleton in that contest.
“We want to stay on top and walk out of here above .500,” the coach said.
The Bayfield boys and girls basketball teams, meanwhile, were scheduled to begin competing at Buena Vista’s tournament on Friday. Because snow caused the school to close Friday, they won’t compete in Buena Vista until Saturday.
