There's no place like home: two games, two victories.

Elsewhere, it's been a series of tough-luck losses - two points, four points, one point, and a few lopsided losses on the Eastern Slope.

"Sometimes losing can become a bad habit," Durango High School boys basketball coach Tom Dunne said. "You get that doubt in the back of your mind during a close game. It gets ugly sometimes.

"We've been in every game at halftime, but we've been struggling a little bit coming out in the third quarter."

Durango (2-8 overall, 0-2 Southwestern League) looks to remedy that at 7 tonight in its SWL home opener against Fruita Monument.

"I think we're about equal," Dunne said. "It should be a pretty good matchup. This year, we are the teams considered to be at the bottom of the league.

"It's cyclical."

Fruita Monument, according to Rockypreps, is 4-8 overall and 0-1 in league play, with a lopsided 67-38 loss at Grand Junction Central last weekend.

Durango will host Grand Junction Central (11-2, 1-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

The DHS girls basketball team (9-5, 2-0) will host Fruita Monument at 5:30 p.m. today and Grand Junction Central at noon Saturday.

Dunne said the Demons, who opened league play last weekend with a 27-point loss at Montrose and a one-point loss at Grand Junction, had a "very good" week of practice.

"We got down to business," he said.

More important than wins or losses tonight, the DHS basketball program will honor deceased alumnus Craig Gallegos during halftime of the boys game.

Gallegos, a former guard for the Demons who graduated in 2003, died in a motorcycle accident last July at College Drive and East Eighth Avenue. He was 23.

Former varsity coach Tim Fitzpatrick and fellow coaches Jerry Martinez and Thomas Downing will speak at halftime, and Gallegos' No. 10 will be the first jersey to be retired in the program's history.

"We're looking forward to that," said Dunne, who also coached the former Miller Middle School basketball coach at DHS.

Sticking to basketball, Dunne offered one of his favorite Gallegos memories.

"At the end of his junior year - he was a poor dribbler; he had no handle at all - Gallegos came up to Fitz, Downing and myself and said: 'Give me some drills. I need to get better.' He completely dedicated himself that summer, and he was the starting point guard that year," Dunne said.

"That's just a small insight into his dedication. He was the type of kid, when he worked out in the gym, he walked away drenched - every night. He was a leader.

"He was in impressive young man," Dunne said.

aaron@durangoherald.com