Last season, Eagle Valley came to Durango and made 15 3-pointers en route to an easy win. Saturday afternoon, the Devils made eight 3-pointers en route to a 61-50 victory over the Demons at DHS.
Eagle Valley improved to 8-5, while Durango fell to 7-5.
Freshman forward Donovan Whitehead led the Demons with 16 points, while junior guard Noah Miles had nine points.
Eagle Valley’s Dylan Zoller and Parker Newbanks scored 18 and 15 points, respectively.
“At the end of the day, our goal starting back in April to the summer, to the preseason through the season is we have to rebound and we have to minimize our turnovers,” Durango coach Alan Batiste said. “That is the only thing we need to do. If we do that and we cut those offensive rebounds in half, we’ll start seeing some success. We’re still trying to find that identity and consistency in those two areas and we’ll be just fine.”
The crowd was electrified when Whitehead soared for a slam plus the foul to put the Demons up early in the first.
Shots were falling from outside in a 40-second span when Eagle Valley’s Brian Fontana hit a 3-point to tie the game. Cullum then hit one and Fontana hit one again to tie the game at 12 with 1:44 to go in the opening frame.
Durango freshman guard Kingston Kerlin hit a 3-pointer and went to the line to push the Demons’ lead to 18-14 in the final minute of the first quarter.
Fontana hit another 3-pointer to help Eagle Valley go up 21-18 lead with 7:20 left in the second quarter. Newbanks hit a nice reverse layup to push the Eagle Valley lead to 25-20 with 6:30 left, which forced Batiste into a timeout.
Newbanks hit another 3-pointer off an offensive rebound despite being undersized. The Demons had a few turnovers, but cut the lead to 30-23 with 2:55 left in the first half with an Unruh layup.
A Holt foul on a 3-pointer by Zoller gave the Devils a 35-24 halftime lead.
The Demons struggled to get consistent stops and stop the Devils’ penetration as the third quarter went on.
“It’s us being disciplined on defense and us being able to close out and making teams have to face our inside threat,” Batiste said. “We have to hold our big men and inside size accountable.”
A Cullum 3-pointer and a Whitehead layup cut the deficit to 39-32. However, the Demons struggled to rebound at the end of the third.
A corner 3-pointer by Eagle Valley’s Elias Pena pushed the Devils’ lead to 48-34 off a Demons turnover to start the fourth quarter.
Noah Miles cut Eagle Valley’s lead to 48-37 with 5:06 to go, but Durango didn’t have a great presence inside. Neubert was neutralized and Whitehead was on the bench with four fouls.
A corner 3-pointer by Pena stretched Eagle Valley’s lead to 51-37. In the final minutes, Zoller hit a 3-pointer off the broken press and sealed the victory for the Devils.
Durango plays on the road Jan. 19 at Grand Junction Central.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
