The Durango High School boys basketball team couldn’t get its offense going, as the Demons struggled with turnovers and rebounding, and the result was a 48-33 defeat at the hands of the Pagosa Springs Pirates on Tuesday night at DHS.
“It came down to boxing out,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “We have to figure out the fundamentals of boxing out and get that done because they had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half. They had 23 points at halftime and probably 18 of them were second chance points. It comes down to the small things for us.”
The first quarter was one of runs. After a slow start to the game from both sides, Durango (1-6) went on a 9-0 run midway through the quarter to take a 9-2 advantage. But a technical foul against the Demons when a player who wasn’t listed in the score book checked into the game stalled the team and sparked the Pirates (5-2), who closed the quarter on a 7-0 run and sent the game to the second quarter tied 9-9.
The Pirates suffered a blow in the first quarter when starting guard Jesus Pacheco suffered a leg injury as he chased down a Durango fastbreak. On the play, Pacheco, a junior, went up to contest a Durango layup and landed awkwardly at the wall behind the basket. After getting looked at by the DHS trainer, Pacheco was carried off the floor and didn’t return. He left the gym at halftime with his left leg wrapped in a cast, and he used crutches.
“Jesus going down was a big loss for us, but I think Cade (Cowan) stepped in and did a great job, and the whole team did a great job,” Pagosa Springs head coach Randy Sorenson said. “We did some different matchups and got some different kids in the game. When kids go down, someone else has to step up in different spots and our kids did a good job tonight.”
Durango built a 16-11 lead in the second quarter, but turnovers and poor rebounding began to take a toll on the Demons, and Pagosa Springs ended the quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 23-18 lead into the break.
Pagosa Springs dominated the third quarter with strong defense and efficient offense. The Demons got within five points at 26-21 with 5 minutes, 26 seconds to go in the third, but the Pirates closed the quarter on another big run and outscored the Demons 10-2 the rest of the quarter for a 36-23 lead heading to the fourth.
“Pagosa was able to adjust better than we were,” DHS senior Seth Johnson said. “They made the adjustments they needed to and we just kept hitting our heads against a brick wall. We couldn’t figure it out and didn’t change when things stopped working.”
The Pirates continued to dominate in the fourth quarter. They built their lead to as many as 21 midway through the fourth and coasted to the win.
Johnson led Durango with nine points. Cullen Robinette finished with eight points, and Quelan Mestas added eight points off the bench.
Isaiah Griego led the Pirates with 20 points after going 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Durango will be back in action Thursday with a road trip to Telluride to take on the Miners (1-4).
kschneider@durangoherald.com
