A hot shooting start sent the Durango High School boys basketball team to a strong finish Thursday in Shiprock.
The Demons shot an estimated 60% in the first half and made 5-of-6 shots from 3-point range to quickly extend a 9-5 advantage to a double-digit lead. Durango (2-3) would roll the rest of the way to a 45-28 victory against Navajo Prep in the opening game of the Jerry Richardson Memorial Tournament hosted by the Shiprock Chieftains.
“We were hitting shots,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “The boys played well, and we went 13 deep. There was no let-off at all when the bench guys were in.”
Batiste was especially proud of his team’s defense, which held the Eagles (2-2) to only five points in the second and fourth quarters.
“We had a hand up every time they shot and a box out every time it hit the rim,” he said. “One look and they were done. That’s what propelled us to win by 20.”
Martin Cuntz and Jordan Woolverton each scored 11 points for the Demons, while Anthony Flint scored 10.
DHS will face tournament-host Shiprock at 7 p.m. Friday in the Chieftain Pit. DHS fell 62-60 to Shiprock (2-2) only a week earlier at the Farmington tournament.
“We won’t just be playing Shiprock. We will be playing that whole community,” Batiste said. “They will have at least 2,000 fans.”
The Durango High School girls basketball team gave second-ranked Pueblo West a tough first half before the Cyclones blew past the Demons in the second half.
The Demons (2-3) raced out to a 6-0 lead, and head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said the Cyclones (4-0) were lucky it wasn’t worse because his team missed some shots in the early going. Pueblo West would go on a 10-0 run of its own to close out the quarter and never trailed again en route to a 47-24 win.
“I am extremely pleased,” Fitzpatrick said. “We played a really good first half. We really got after it and frustrated them. We simply didn’t finish some shots.”
It was the first game of the Pueblo County Holiday Tournament. The second-ranked Cyclones, which received one first-place vote in this week’s Class 4A CHSAANow.com poll, received 21 points from Hannah Simental, who will play Division I women’s college basketball at Northern Colorado. Durango held her without a point in the first quarter, but she had eight in the second quarter and then made three 3-pointers in the second half.
Fitzpatrick thought the defense of Emma Fitzgerald as well as Kyle and Mason Rowland was solid against Simental.
“They battled her,” the coach said.
Durango was led in scoring by the five points each from Fitzgerald and Mason Rowland.
Holiday Tournament play will continue at 5 p.m. Friday against Palmer (2-3) for the Demons.
“We lost, but I think it was a confidence booster,” Fitzpatrick said. “I am extremely proud of the way the girls got out of the car and brought intensity against one of the best teams in the state in 4A.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
