Gorman has a road rally

Adam Candee

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

Energy pulsed through the Durango gym as the Blazers sprinted ahead of Bishop Gorman by 12 points in the first half Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for the raucous Blazers crowd, that meant the Gaels had the home team just where they wanted it.

"We're known for being a comeback team," Gorman forward Mark Hill said.

Come back, they did. Over the next nine minutes spanning the second and third quarters, Gorman outscored Durango 30-9 to seize control of the game and of the Southwest Division with a 69-62 victory.

Gorman coach Grant Rice said his team simply needed to settle in defensively to climb back into the game.

"We just tried to pick up our defensive intensity," Rice said. "Obviously, our offense isn't great all the time, but we try not to have too many letdowns defensively."

Hill led the charge with a sterling effort, totaling 23 points and eight rebounds, both team highs. Kashif Watson slashed to the basket all night and finished with 20 points and six boards for the Gaels (18-3, 5-0 Southwest), while Robert Porter added 18 points.

After trailing 10-3 early, the Blazers used their own big spurt to seemingly grab the reins. Outscoring the Gaels 28-9 over an eight-minute span, Durango went ahead 31-19 on Houston Powers' transition jumper in the second quarter.

Sprinting all over the court at both ends, Durango (14-8, 4-1) appeared poised to run away, with hundreds of Blazers fans raising the noise level in their gym.

The Blazers could not deal with prosperity, however, which Durango coach Al LaRocque said is consistently happening to his squad.

"It's kind of like a no-lead's-safe thing," LaRocque said.

LaRocque said the problem can be as simple as a substitution or missed shot that breaks Durango's momentum, and there was no distinguishable turning point Wednesday night, either.

"I was disappointed because I thought we'd be better than that," LaRocque said. "We let them dictate the tempo."

Gorman crept back in the game before halftime, and then exploded out of the break for 22 points in the third quarter. The Gaels used a strong secondary fast break to get some easy scores, allowing them to abandon their predominantly one-on-one halfcourt offense.

"We played well in spurts," Rice said. "We need to put 32 minutes together."

Durango stayed close throughout the second half, pulling within 55-46 at the end of the third quarter on Tywain McTyer's buzzer-beating 3-pointer. After again falling behind by double digits, Durango closed to 63-54 with 1:40 to play, then to within six at 66-60 with 32.8 left on consecutive Powers 3-pointers.

The Gaels again struggled at the line late in the game, but Hill converted two important free throws to push the lead back to eight points and seal the Gorman win.

"We're doing a good job, but we can still improve," Rice said.

Powers led the Blazers with 17 points, and Todd LaMasters kicked in 11 points. Tywain McTyer and Josh Wood both scored 10 points, and diminutive McTyer added a game-high 12 rebounds. All four except McTyer fouled out of the game.

Durango did not help itself from the free-throw line in the second half, going just 8-for-19.

"A lot of things have to happen for us to beat a good team," LaRocque said.

The teams meet again in two weeks at Gorman in the regular season finale for both.