Saturday’s Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope League championship game featured two teams that were playing their third game in three days, and it showed.
Like two heavyweights in the final round of a prize fight, both teams were slow, sloppy, tired, but still trying to throw whatever they had left at their opponent to claim the title. In the end, it was Durango that stayed on its feet the longest and hung on to win an ugly one, 29-26.
Scott Morse scored eight of Durango’s 11 first-half points and was the only player to finish in double figures with 11 points. Lucas Baken made three 3-pointers in a big third quarter for Durango and finished with nine points.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we won, and that’s all that matters right now,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It was frustrating at times, but we just had to bring our guys down to earth and get some shots to fall. We were lucky to escape with a win.”
Durango (16-7) used a 12-2 second-half run to take the lead, and the grind was on. The teams traded turnovers and rare baskets down the stretch until the final possession. Durango was 2-for-10 from the foul line in the last four minutes with fatigue setting in, but Rifle (19-4) couldn’t capitalize.
After failing to convert on numerous free throws, Rifle had a chance to tie the game multiple times in the final minutes. However, the final four possessions for the Bears resulted in two traveling calls, a double-dribble and a desperation 3-pointer at the end that clanged off the back of the iron.
In the final eight minutes of the district tournament’s championship game, the two best teams only managed to score three points each.
“They like to slow the game down, and they did that,” Batiste said. “The only offensive burst we had was in the third quarter, and that was enough for us. Our defense really stepped up and forced them into making mistakes.”
The CHSAA Class 4A Boys Basketball State Tournament seeds will be announced Sunday, and the Demons will have a chance to rest up before facing their next opponent.
jfries@durangoherald.com
