The Durango High School boys basketball team looked like it was on its way to its fifth consecutive loss on Friday night at Rampart. The Demons trailed the Rams by nine after three quarters in the second round of the 5A state playoffs.
But senior guard Noah Miles had the final say with a banked 3-point buzzer-beater to shock the Rampart players and move the Demons on to the 5A Sweet 16 with a 59-56 win.
WATCH: An incredible finish in Colorado Springs. After trailing by nine points heading into the fourth quarter at Rampart, Durango’s Noah Miles makes a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the Demons into the second round of the 5A state playoffs. @DHS_AD @CHSAA @CHSAANow @CoPreps pic.twitter.com/9dwB6uktgz
— Durango Herald (@DurangoHerald) March 1, 2025
The No. 20 seeded Demons were down by as many as 13 points in the third quarter as No. 13 Rampart looked like it was pulling away with some inside finishes to hand the Demons another blowout loss. Durango was struggling to hit shots and looked lifeless at times.
It looked like someone used defibrillator paddles on the Demons before the fourth quarter. Durango was active on both sides of the ball as the Demons scored 22 fourth-quarter points in the comeback win.
The Demons scored 22 points in their loss to Fruita Monument last Saturday.
“We were always in the game,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said. “They went on that little quick run and we got down 13 in the third quarter, but it was just more of our mental mistakes on the defensive end … Once we fixed that, we just stayed solid back on defense. That was our game plan to stay in a bit of a pack line and stay low because they wanted to get downhill. They just kept trying to score and so we just started inching away one possession at a time … We just tried to stay positive and it worked out in our favor. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Durango improved to 14-10 overall and moved on to its first Sweet 16 since 2017. Miles led the team with 19 points and senior Ethan White added 14.
Rampart finished its season 14-10 overall. Justus Derickson led the Rams with 16 points and Elias Bishop added 11.
The Rams took a 10-6 lead in the first six minutes of the first off good ball movement against Durango’s 3-2 zone. The Demons struggled to get defensive rebounds, which led to second-chance looks for the Rams.
Rampart ended the first quarter with two open corner 3-pointers against the Demons’ 3-2 zone to go up 16-13 after the first.
The Demons switched to more of a 2-3 zone to start the second. Batiste said it was always the plan to switch defenses to keep Rampart on its toes. Durango did a good job of getting offensive rebounds early in the second. White and Miles finished inside to cut Rampart’s lead to 18-17 with six minutes left in the half.
Listed at 6-foot-5-inches and 250 pounds, Derickson had a presence inside in the middle of the second quarter. He sat around the free throw line in the middle of Durango’s zone and hit some nice midrange shots to put Rampart up five.
Freshman guard King Kerlin did a great job of penetrating and finding others in the middle of the quarter but Rampart pulled away at the end of the second. The Demons shot multiple air balls from 3-point range, had multiple turnovers and allowed Rampart to hit two 3-pointers from the wing and corner. The Rams took a 32-23 lead into halftime.
“Those wide-open threes were just our mistake,” Batiste said. “It was our mistake; our guys wanted to guard the basket and they’re (Rampart) not that type of team. They want to play in the open floor; they’re more like a club-style type of basketball, like AAU, and they all play AAU together.”
Rampart extended its lead to 38-25 with five minutes left in the third. Durango pushed the pace in transition but couldn’t finish enough to cut into Rampart’s lead. The Rams had a few nice finishes inside. Kerlin had a nice array of moves and a finish at the end of the quarter as Rampart led 46-37 after three.
Durango had a good start of the fourth with great passing. Senior forward Marcus Cullum finished inside, Miles got open in the corner and hit a 3-pointer to cut Rampart’s lead to 48-42 with 6:30 left.
Miles hit another 3-pointer from the wing to cut Rampart’s lead to 50-47 with five minutes left. Rampart wasn’t making jump shots and the Demons were getting the rebounds.
“We rushed them up a little bit even though we're in the half court … the message was get it below 10 and keep pushing in transition,” Batiste said about the fourth quarter. “We’re going to try to score off our possessions in transition because they show some signs where they weren’t really disciplined on defense and really going to get back … we just took advantage of the situation. We had some open shots in transition, we got downhill and got in their gaps.”
Durango tied the game for the first time in the second half when junior Brady Hoerl had multiple attempts inside, got his own miss, kicked it out to Kerlin for an open 3-pointer and Kerlin made it to tie the game at 56 with two minutes to go.
The Rams had multiple chances to retake the lead but couldn’t hit multiple 3-point looks.
Durango got the ball back after a Rampart turnover with eight seconds left with the game tied at 56. Out of a timeout, the Demons advanced the ball into the frontcourt and got it to Miles. He double-pumped from a few feet behind the arc and hit a contested banked 3-pointer at the buzzer to win the game.
Batiste said the original plan was to use Miles as a decoy. He wanted his guys to get downhill on Miles’ side. Hoerl got to Miles on the left side and gave the senior guard the ball. Miles was the perfect player for that shot with his high-release at 6-foot 4-inches.
The Demons will play at No. 4 Montrose on Tuesday night. The Red Hawks beat Durango twice in the regular season.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
