The Durango Demons were the last team in the CHSAA Class 4A Boys Basketball State Tournament. After a 400-mile bus ride to Windsor in the opposite corner of Colorado, the Demons returned home one of the first teams eliminated.
It wasn’t without a strong effort through the game’s opening 10 minutes. Durango trailed 19-15 to No. 1 Windsor after one quarter and was within 19-18 early in the second. But the host Wizards (13-1) went on a 17-0 run and would take a 43-25 halftime lead.
Windsor then outscored the Demons 25-7 in the third quarter and would run away with a 77-38 victory to advance to the Sweet 16, where the Wizards will face No. 16 Aurora Central on Thursday.
“I am proud of our team for the way they played and finished the season,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “I know what the score looked like, but we did not stop playing. Windsor is a great team that is going to win a state championship. They’re the No. 3 team in the whole state, regardless of classification, and our guys kept competing.”
Durango (7-8) was led by center Walter Stauffer, who scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds. Anthony Flint added eight points.
Windsor’s Kobe Greene had a big night with 21 points. Ben Hageman added 16 points, and Jaden Kennis finished with 12.
“Greene killed us with 3-pointers,” Batiste said. “Just like they’ve done to every other team this whole season, they got in the open floor and executed off our turnovers.”
Brackets were released Monday, giving DHS one afternoon to arrange travel and try to prepare for the state’s top-ranked team. Batiste said he wished the brackets would have come out Sunday to give his team more time to arrange travel plans. DHS left at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday and had one hour in the hotel before going to the game.
“It’s hard for teams like us on the Western Slope to prepare to travel that far,” he said. “But in a year like this with the pandemic and everything, we’ve learned everything can change on one-day notice.”
Batiste credited his team for rolling with the punches of playing with masks on and missing several players throughout the season because of various COVID-19 related quarantines. The team played without two juniors Tuesday.
“These boys achieved and made it through the season. I’m very proud of them,” Batiste said. “There was never any quit at any point all year. Sometimes you come across better athletes and a team that executes a little better. But we had a brand new group this year that rose to the expectations.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
