Durango tourney status up in air

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

After losing the state championship in overtime a year ago, Durango's boys basketball team was hoping for another shot at the title when Nevada's best congregate in Reno next week.

That dream was in danger of being shattered this morning, after the Trailblazers were stripped of two league victories for using an academically ineligible player.

School and district officials were reviewing the student's grades again this morning to determine whether a third league win should be forfeited. If so, the Blazers will lose their spot in the upcoming 4A Sunset Region Tournament.

"It's devastating," Durango coach Al LaRocque said. "We played a kid with all the blessings of our assistant principal. You want to win or lose on the court, and instead we've had an administrative oversight."

Regardless of the outcome of today's proceedings, Clark will go into the playoffs as the Southwest Division's No. 3 seed, moving up one spot, with either Durango or Bonanza taking over as the No. 4 seed. To give teams time to prepare for their new matchups, the tournament's first round has been pushed back one day, with four games now slated for Thursday at Palo Verde.

The Sunrise Region Tournament will still begin tonight at Valley, as originally scheduled.

According to Clark County Athletic Director Larry McKay, Durango administrators discovered and reported a clerical error to Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Executive Director Larry Hughes on Monday. Hughes reviewed the details, and ruled that the Trailblazers must forfeit victories over Western and Clark from Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, respectively.

"It had to do with an athlete not meeting an academic standard, and the school making an honest error in interpreting the standard," McKay said.

With their league record down from 4-4 to 2-6, the Blazers remained in the playoff picture this morning, as Durango administrators tried to ascertain whether the student had a failing grade in a particular class when the team defeated Bonanza on Jan. 19.

The Trailblazers' win over the Bengals last Friday stands, because the ineligible student did not play in that game. But if the teams' first outcome is reversed, Bonanza will wind up 2-6 in the division, compared with Durango's 1-7 mark.

"Contrary to popular belief, Durango does play by the rules," said LaRocque, who has come under fire in the past as area coaches have accused him of recruiting violations. "If we broke a rule, we'll forfeit games. But it makes me sick. We were given the green light to play him, so we did."

The Trailblazers, ranked No. 5 in last week's Sun statewide Top 10 poll, were 21-8 overall before the forfeits.

Durango or Bonanza will face Cheyenne Thursday at 6:30 p.m., while Clark -- which was originally slated to play the Desert Shields in round one -- will now play Mojave Thursday at 4:45 p.m.

The region's other two first-round matchups remain the same, with Western and Palo Verde squaring off at 3 p.m. and Bishop Gorman and Cimarron-Memorial meeting up at 8:15 p.m.