Basketball Game Preview: Montezuma-Cortez Panthers vs. Durango Demons

After both having extra time off, the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers and the Durango Demons will dust off their jerseys to take on one another at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Montezuma-Cortez knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six games -- so hopefully Durango likes a good challenge.

Montezuma-Cortez is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They walked away with a 78-69 victory over Rehoboth Christian two weeks ago. While the Panthers didn't have the best season last year (they finished 8-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Trey Hall and Caidin Leonard were among the main playmakers for Montezuma-Cortez as the former went 8 of 13 on his way to 23 points and six steals and the latter posted 20 points and four steals. Those six steals gave Hall a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Tay Wheat, who went 6 of 10 on his way to 12 points.

Montezuma-Cortez smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in four consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Durango beat Ignacio 51-43 two weeks ago. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Demons.

Montezuma-Cortez's win bumped their record up to 8-1. As for Durango, their victory bumped their record up to 6-2.

Montezuma-Cortez suffered a grim 69-47 defeat to Durango when the teams last played back in February of 2022. Can Montezuma-Cortez avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.