The Durango High School boys basketball team has struggled to find a rhythm on offense all season, and the struggles continued Friday night.
The Demons were held to only 10 made field goals on their way to a 32-28 loss to Grand Junction High School at DHS.
But for as much as the offense struggled, the defense excelled and kept the Demons in the game by contesting nearly every shot the Tigers took.
“When we play disciplined in our defense, we can stop teams,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “We got a little greedy at times when we tried to overshoot passing lanes. ... We just tried to stay whole and protect the basket. We can play excellent defense, we just have to find a way to put the ball in the hole.”
The two sides struggled through the first quarter, and Durango held a 2-1 lead after the opening four minutes. The Tigers made a push in the closing minutes and took an 8-5 lead into the second quarter.
The offensive struggles continued through the second quarter, and Grand Junction took a 16-11 lead into halftime.
“We had a hard time putting the ball in the basket,” Grand Junction head coach Isaac Madison said. “I thought defensively our effort was good, we just gave up too many offensive rebounds. That’s something we’ve been fighting with all year.”
The Demons did get some good looks from the floor when they worked through their offense, but over and over, their shots went halfway down and squirted out with no help from the home rims.
Durango got its offense going a bit in the third quarter. Al Hurworth converted an and-1 to get the student section up and cheering, and, on the next possession, Cullen Robinette shook his defender with a crossover directly in front of the DHS student section and drained a midrange jumper from the left side that sent the students into a frenzy.
But each Durango bucket was answered by one from the Tigers, who held on to their advantage and took a 28-22 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Demons tied the game at 28-28 when Clay Seibel secured the ball and made a quick pass to Hurworth for an uncontested layup with a little more than three minutes remaining.
The Tigers forced a turnover on their next defensive possession and took the lead back with a drive and finish in traffic by Jake Chaffetz that put Grand Junction up 30-28.
“We got some energy and got the crowd back into it with that run,” Batiste said. “But then we had that turnover, and that hurt.”
Chaffetz pushed the lead to 32-28 on the Tigers next possession when he attacked the basket, drew a foul and sank the two free throws, and the Demons’ hopes for a win.
“This is one of the toughest places to play in the state, so to come down here you expect to struggle from the floor and not be able to make shots, and it lived up to that,” Madison said.
“So to be able to sneak out of here with a win is a good thing and we’re happy about it.”
Hurworth led DHS with 11 points, followed by six points each from Seth Johnson and Robinette.
Chaffetz finished with 11 points for the Tigers. Andy Smith also had 11 in the win.
The Demons will be back at home Saturday when they host Montrose (12-5, 2-1 SWL) at 3 p.m.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
