A game that had gone the way of the Mancos Blue Jays for the better part of three quarters suddenly turned in the direction of the Durango Demons on Monday night.
Powered by the 3-point shooting of Anthony Flint, the interior play of Martin Cuntz and Haezen Mestas and a few timely layups from Jordan Woolverton, the Durango High School boys basketball team erased a double-digit third-quarter deficit and took a 48-46 lead on a Flint 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 33 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. DHS would extend that lead to 58-47 with 2:30 to play. That was enough to hold off one final charge from the visiting Blue Jays on Monday night inside the DHS gymnasium, as the Demons (5-3) captured a 61-58 victory.
“We fought back hard after we dug ourselves a hole in that first half,” Flint said. “Getting stops and pushing the ball, we thought we could make them tired and take advantage of that. Pushing in transition, getting the crowd with us really gets us going and gave us that second wind.”
Flint made six 3-pointers against Mancos (3-2) for the second consecutive season, as he finished with 18 points. He made two big 3s in the second half. He said the zone defense of Mancos allowed him to get a few clear looks he liked from outside.
“Last year, it was kind of the same deal where I think he had a season high against us,” Mancos head coach Elijah Knepper said of Flint. “On the scouting report, our top guy is Flint. It says, ‘Shooter, one of their two best players, cannot let him get hot, cannot lose track of where he is.’ We know he’s a really good player, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like, defensively, we were bad for a long time.”
Martin Cuntz had a big night inside for Durango, as he played tough defense on Mancos’ Caden Showalter and also scored 15 points, including seven in the fourth quarter.
“It was crazy. We really had to execute exactly what we were doing on the court,” Cuntz said. “The biggest thing for us is we gotta keep the energy. If we’re down and down have energy, we’re not able to do anything. Our bench kept us up, kept our spirits up and that energy we took late in the third quarter helped us chip away in the fourth quickly.”
Woolverton came up with seven of his own fourth-quarter points and finished with 12. It was the five points all in the fourth quarter from Mestas that also excited the Demons.
“Haezen was amazing running up and down the floor, getting big stops and some baskets we needed in a big game,” Flint said.
It was the shooting of Flint and Sam Johnson that kept Durango in the game in the first half. Flint made two of his 3s in the second quarter, and Johnson also had two first-half 3s. He scored eight points, all in the first half.
Caden Showalter finished with 13 points for Mancos. With 16 seconds to play and Mancos set to inbound the ball from under its own basket with a 60-58 deficit, Knepper drew up a play to get him the ball down low. But his bank shot was too strong, and Flint came up with a tough rebound. He threw the ball away, but it somehow found the hands of Woolverton, who raced up the floor and was fouled with five seconds to play. He made 1-of-2 shots at the foul line, and a last-second halfcourt shot from Mancos’ Edgar Hernandez went off the top of the backboard to end the game.
Connor Showalter scored 18 points to lead the Blue Jays. Hunter Goodwin added 12 points with eight in the first quarter. Hernandez finished with seven points.
The Blue Jays were unhappy to not avenge a 48-42 home loss to Durango a year earlier.
Next up for Mancos is a 7 p.m. Thursday road game at Montezuma-Cortez.
“We don’t do moral victories,” Knepper said. “We wanted it bad. Last year, it was a six-point game that was close to the very end just like this one. Unfortunate it came down this way, but we gotta get back on the horse. We got a big one with Cortez this week. It’s doesn’t get any easier.”
The Demons will travel to the Mitchell tournament and open with Englewood at 6 p.m. Friday. It will be Durango’s first time tested outside the Four Corners this season.
“We are getting good experience around here against the teams in the region that want to beat us since we are that big school down here,” Flint said. “It’s good competition.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com