Durango senior digs deep

Darryl Gaynor had a huge gash on the inside of his mouth, and his upper lip looked like a collagen injection gone horribly wrong.

But the senior guard for the Durango boys basketball team wasn’t going to miss the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Sunset Region quarterfinal.

“This is my last go-round in high school basketball,” Gaynor said. “I had to go back out and help my team get the ‘W.’ ”

Gaynor scored only four of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, but his return after a nasty second-half collision was all the inspiration the Trailblazers needed to pull out a 76-71 victory over Cimarron-Memorial.

Durango (11-9) will host two-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman (25-4) in the semifinals at 4:40 p.m. today.

“We’ve leaned on Darryl to be a leader all season, and when he came back into the game, that provided strength for our guys,” Trailblazers coach DeShawn Henry said. “They felt confident and at peace to make plays and do what we needed to do to win.”

Cameron McKissic led Cimarron-Memorial (13-15) with 30 points, including 23 in the second half as the Spartans rallied from as many as 10 points down.

Gaynor had 25 points before he was injured while trying to corral an offensive rebound with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter. He went to the locker room with Durango leading 52-43, but by the time he returned to a loud ovation with 1:08 left in the third, the Spartans had trimmed the deficit to 54-52.

Cimarron tied the score at 58 on a basket by McKissic with about six minutes remaining before Alex Arias and Vee Price sparked a 10-2 Trailblazers’ run. The Spartans got as close as 68-64, but Gaynor and Price combined to go 8-for-10 from the free-throw line in the final 1:33.

“Right when we got there, we had little mental mistakes and turnovers,” Cimarron coach Chris Walker said. “To me, it doesn’t matter how much momentum they had. I felt like it was a winnable game for us.”

Arias finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Price added 15 points and six rebounds. Victor Ross had four of his five steals in the fourth quarter and scored six points for Durango.

Cimarron, which trailed 37-28 at halftime, rallied in the third quarter as McKissic had 14 points, including a 3-pointer that cut the Trailblazers’ lead to 52-50 with 1:55 to go in the third.

Tony Harrison had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Austin Garrison chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans, whose comeback was aided by 19 offensive rebounds.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.