Durango boys basketball head coach Alan Batiste has said all season the key to the Demons’ success will be defense. Durango showed that on Tuesday in its 62-38 win over Montezuma-Cortez at home.
The Demons used all of their length and height to get into passing lanes, strip Panthers ball handlers and crash the offensive glass. Montezuma-Cortez never got into an offensive rhythm and Durango led by double-digits for most of the game.
“We're going to thrive off our defensive effort,” Batiste said. “But again, active hands is one thing that we're doing and then we said to rebound, so if we can do those two things, we’ll be good. We're getting deflections and then we got turnovers that we needed in those stretches to get back out in the open floor, especially when our offense got stagnant coming out the gate and especially in the second half.”
Durango improved to 7-2 overall after the win. Senior forward Marcus Cullum led the Demons with 14 points. Senior guard Noah Miles had all 13 of his points in the first half for Durango.
Montezuma-Cortez fell to 8-2 overall after the loss. Senior guard Tay Wheat led the Panthers with 14 points. Sophomore guard Trey Hall had 10 points.
“We looked a little rusty coming out of the break,” Montezuma-Cortez head coach Mike Hall said. “We went into the break pretty hot … we’ve got to clean some stuff up.”
The Demons were ultra-active with their defense to start the game. Durango got out in transition many times for easy buckets. When they weren’t scoring in transition, Miles got going early thanks to some well-run plays for him. He hit his second 3-pointer to put the Demons up 21-9 after one quarter.
“This was one of his first times that he's been in a situation where he came off the bench today; he's been on vacation and stuff like that,” Batiste said about Miles. “But he got to see how fast the game was moving. His legs were strong after not having to play tough defense in the first three and a half minutes in the normal games. So he got his legs under him and followed through; he gave us a little boost on that 3-point shot and then we went from there.”
Durango had a noticeable size advantage at almost every position and it used it well early on. The Demons used their length in passing lanes on defense and on the offensive glass. Cullum used his size advantage inside for a tough bucket plus the foul to put Durango up 31-13 with five minutes left in the second.
Montezuma-Cortez struggled to finish some good looks from inside and behind the arc. The Panthers got some transition buckets to temporarily stop the bleeding but Durango still led 37-18 at halftime.
The Panthers started the third quarter on a 9-0 run as Durango struggled with turnovers. Montezuma-Cortez found some open 3-pointers and hit them, unlike in the first half. Durango freshman Taj Batiste ended that run with a fast break layup. The Demons then found success in the paint and pushed its lead up to 43-26 with 4:17 left to go in the third.
Durango’s half-court offense struggled for the last half the quarter. The Demons shot a few contested 3-pointers early in the possession that didn’t go down. They were sloppy with their passing in the half-court and couldn’t finish inside.
The Panthers cut into the deficit because Durango’s defensive aggressiveness was too much for the referees and the Demons were called for fouls, sending the Panthers to the free-throw line late. Durango led 45-34 after three quarters.
“We picked our defensive pressure up and it turned into some offensive stuff for us,” Hall said.
To start the fourth quarter, Durango looked a lot more like it did in the first quarter. The Demons got stops, got in transition and moved the ball in the half-court. Senior forward Otto Aalland hit two 3-pointers and two free throws as Durango started the fourth quarter on a 14-0 run and led 59-34 with 4:10 left.
“On the offensive end, he knows that he's going to be more of a setup guy, not more of an in-the-paint type, powerful finisher,” Batiste said about Aalland. “But that's his shot (3-pointers), especially in the corners. That's just what he does and that's where he hit them.”
Durango heads to the Canon City tournament later this week and plays Canon City to start on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Montezuma-Cortez plays at Centauri on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
