Just over a decade after epic battles between the Montezuma-Cortez High School and Durango High School boys basketball teams, the once-heated rivalry has become one-sided.
Playing for the latest time in Durango on Jan. 27, the Panthers started slow and never recovered, losing 62-41. The loss marked the Panthers seventh straight loss to the Demons. M-CHS’ last win over Durango came in 2011.
“We just didn’t come out ready,” said M-CHS head coach Michael Hall. “We didn’t handle the crowd that well, and we fell behind in the first quarter. We dug a hole that we couldn’t climb out of.”
Greatly contributing to that hole was the hot shooting of Durango guard Lucas Baken, who hit four three-pointers during a first quarter that ended with Durango comfortably ahead.
“(Baken) is a great shooter, and we had some miscues on our defensive assignments,” said Hall. “He got a little space, and he got on fire.”
Providing a bright spot for the Panthers was senior forward Walter Parker, who scored a game-high 15 points. Sophomore center Seth Long contributed nine points for M-CHS.
“Walter is just coming on right now,” Hall said. “You can’t ask for any more than what he’s giving us right now. He’s playing at a high level, and he’s playing at the top of his game.”
Hall went on to praise numerous bench players, who contributed valuable minutes after Randy Haley, Jonathan Walck and Hayden Plewe got in foul trouble.
“When you lose (three starters to foul trouble), it’s hard to come out of that,” said Hall. I’ll give my bench kids credit though. They played hard, but they just couldn’t close the gap.”
M-CHS dropped to 5-8 with the loss, while Durango improved to 8-6 on the year. The Panthers are currently 0-3 on the even of a road matchup against Fruita Monument on Jan. 30 and a road matchup against Montrose High School on Jan. 31.
“It’s important for us to get wins this weekend if we want to make the playoffs,” Hall said. “We’re looking to go into Fruita and play our style of basketball and play hard. Montrose is a pretty young team and we need to come away with a win.”
M-CHS will get a second crack at Durango when the two teams clash in Cortez on Feb. 10.