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Durango edges Montezuma-Cortez in overtime

Durango's Jasper Zastrocky drives the baseline against Montezuma-Cortez senior JT Carver Tuesday iin Cortez.(Ben Bradley/Special to The Journal)
Panthers take longtime rival to a final shot. Call it Round 1.

In rivalry games, there are no style points.

With the Demons and Panthers slugging out a defensive clash, Durango scored the lone field goal of the final eight minutes of action, including the four-minute overtime session, but had just enough defense to sneak out of Montezuma-Cortez High School with a 51-50 overtime win.

Officially, on paper, the game will go down as a Foundation Game, which means it won’t factor into the RPI rankings.

For the players, call it “Round 1.”

Montezuma-Cortez senior JT Carver goes up for a shot against Durango's Jasper Zastrocky and Jacob Neubert. (Ben Bradley/Special to The Journal)
Montezuma-Cortez junior Austin Wood brings the ball up the court in a game against Durango. (Ben Bradley/Special to The Journal)

The Demons and Panthers will square off twice in 2022 – the first meeting coming in the Southwest Classic over the first weekend back to action in January. Their second meeting, appropriately for two programs for which there is no love lost, will take place the day after Valentine’s Day.

Demon senior Jasper Zastrocky’s banker with two minutes to go in overtime, giving the Demons a 51-48 lead, ultimately proved to be the difference in the game. It was the first bucket for head coach Alan Batiste’s group for over six minutes of game action, dating to the midway mark of the fourth quarter, when junior Tyler Harms hit a midrange jumper to give Durango a 48-44 lead.

However, the Panthers answered from the charity stripe, where freshman Tay Wheat and junior Austin Wood made good on their trips to the line to tie up the contest with a minute remaining in regulation. Both teams misfired in their final possession, leading to an extra session.

In overtime, Demon pressure continued to stymie M-CHS, who was struggling through its own field goal drought. Wood’s lay-in with four minutes to go in the fourth, cutting Durango’s lead to 46-44, proved to be the last field goal for the Panthers on the night.

The late-game struggles from the field for both teams belied a much more offensive-minded first three quarters. Durango pounced on the Panthers in the opening quarter, building a 14-8 edge, thanks to senior Anthony Flint’s six points in the frame.

M-CHS head coach Mike Hall adjusted his defensive schemes in the second quarter, and the Panthers started to connect from the floor. Panthers senior JT Carver and junior Gabe Crowley combined for nine of the Panthers’ 15 points in the second quarter, bringing the hosts level at halftime, knotted at 23.

Montezuma-Cortez would work their way onto the front foot early in the second half, as Wood drained a rare triple for the Panthers, giving them Panthers a 38-36 edge heading to the fourth quarter.

However, the Demons restored an advantage that they enjoyed for the vast majority of the contest, with junior guard Zach Haber scoring on back-to-back possessions to give the Demons the lead again in the fourth.

Carver made a breakaway layup to cut the deficit to 43-42, before Harms’ bucket midway through the fourth quarter signaled an abrupt end to the offensive production for both teams.

The Panthers had two possessions to try to take the game at the end of overtime, but the Demon defense stood firm, allowing the visitors to take the first of their three meetings in thrilling fashion.

Haber finished as the lone Demon in double figures, tallying 11 points, while Zastrocky added nine and Flint scored eight.

M-CHS was led by Wood’s 13 points, joining Carver (12) and Crowley (11), as the Panther double-figure scorers.

Montezuma-Cortez will travel to Grand Junction for a trio of contests to wind down the 2021 portion of their schedule, facing Grand Junction, Delta, and Battle Mountain. The Demons, meanwhile, get set to take on Gallup, Farmington and Bloomfield in a tournament hosted by the Scorpions over the weekend of Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 16-18.