When the Durango and Montezuma-Cortez high school boys basketball teams played at the Southwest Classic in Bayfield, Demon Landon Roberts flew in to score a putback and send the game into overtime, but the Panthers dominated the extra period to win the game, 84-74.
In the rematch Tuesday at DHS, the Demons won handily 69-47.
The two teams were close early, with seven lead changes in the first quarter. Austin Wood led the Panthers’ charge with eight points in the first, sinking three shots that put Cortez in front. Lincoln Clay and Zach Haber gave Durango leads with 3-pointers, but Cortez led 16-13 after one.
The Demons picked up the intensity in the second and started the quarter with a 16-2 run by forcing turnovers and grabbing rebounds to get second looks.
AJ Folk came up with a steal right away for DHS. After Anthony Flint made one free throw, he came up with a steal and took it coast to coast for a layup that tied the game at 16-16. Sawyer Smith hit a shot to put Cortez back ahead, 18-16. After a Luke Wesley field goal, a Walter Stauffer block and a Roberts bucket put DHS up 20-18, Durango wouldn’t relinquish the lead.
Clay scored the next five points and then Haber scored on a tough layup and Flint scored to put DHS up 29-18. Isaak Lewis and Gabe Crowley scored for Cortez to stop the bleeding. Tyler Harms and Brady Leimbach assisted Clay and Haber late and DHS took a 33-22 lead into halftime.
Both teams lit up the scoreboard in the third, but DHS was able to answer after every Cortez score with a basket of its own. A wide-open 3-pointer from Trinidad McDonnel and another three from Wood cut Durango’s lead to single digits. Stauffer, however, scored eight of his 11 points in the quarter. Flint turned a steal into a breakaway layup and blocked a shot, and DHS led 53-38 heading into the fourth.
The Demons tried a couple alley-oop attempts for Jacob Neubert in the fourth, but he was called for two personal fouls after jumping into Panthers. After Harms came up with a steal and found Neubert open in the paint, the 6-foot-6 sophomore got his dunk.
Flint scored seven in the fourth, Cole Ullrich went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, and Folk scored the final basket on a breakaway steal. Leimbach and Smith also rejected a shot for each team.
Eleven Demons scored in the game, led by Flint with 18 and Clay with 14. Stauffer added 11 points and nine rebounds. Haber scored seven, and Ulrich, Roberts and Luke Wesley each added four. Folk, Leimbach, Harms and Neubert also scored.
Wood scored 16 to lead Cortez. Smith scored eight, and McDonnel, Crowley and Lewis each scored five. Miles Frost, JT Carver and Tay Wheat scored two apiece.
Durango improved to 10-11 overall with the win, while Cortez slipped to 5-12. Both teams will back on the court Thursday, with Durango playing at Alamosa and Cortez traveling to Mancos.
Durango will conclude its regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday when the team hosts Montrose at Fort Lewis College.
