Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Durango Boys Basketball

  • Players of the Durango High basketball team, from left Sebastian Mack, Sterling Knox, Shane Thomas, Elijah Johnson, Tylen Riley and Taj Degourville, take a portrait during the Las Vegas Sun's High School Basketball Media Day at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, Nov. 1, 2021.
    Video preview: Durango basketball will again be a contender
    The Durango High basketball team made its way to the state tournament in the last contested season, upsetting Coronado in the regional tournament on the way to an appearance in the state semifinals.
  • Players of the Durango High basketball team, from left Kendrick Gilbert, Tone Hunter and Keshon Gilbert, take a portrait during the Las Vegas Sun's High School Basketball Media Day at the Red Rock Resort and Casino, Oct. 28, 2019.
    Video preview: Durango basketball has confidence with new coach
    The Durango High basketball team could be a contender this season ..
  • New Durango basketball player verbals with Air Force
    Jason Landman arrived for his first workout with the Durango High basketball team in June not knowing what to expect. Durango was ...
  • Durango basketball players, from left, Darryl Gaynor, Alex Tarkanian and Paris Estrada Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013.
    Durango’s Gaynor Jr. commits to San Jose State basketball
    Durango High senior Darryl Gaynor Jr. played the waiting game in the college basketball recruiting process. The 6-foot-2 senior guard had scholarship offers from ...
  • Martrel Johnson
    Former Durango basketball star not quitting in fight for donated kidney
    Martrel Johnson could have done anything he wanted on the basketball court. Against any opponent. “We called him the man child,” says Al La Rocque, his former coach at Durango High. “When he came in as a freshman ...
  • Bishop Gorman guard Noah Robotham makes an over-the-shoulder pass while being defended by Centennial's Troy Brown during their game Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014. Bishop Gorman won the game 73-50.
    Bishop Gorman breaks out in third quarter, blows out Durango
    Southwest League champions Gorman broke loose in the third quarter to march past Durango, the Northwest’s No. 2 seed, 74-46 in a game where the Gaels wore their home jerseys but played in their opponent’s gym.
  • Durango basketball players, from left, Darryl Gaynor, Alex Tarkanian and Paris Estrada Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013.
    Durango basketball did something some didn't expect by winning playoff game
    Not much was expected from the Durango High basketball team after its first game. Paris Estrada, the Trailblazers’ unquestioned leader and a four-year varsity point guard, tore the ACL in his knee in a loss against Canyon Springs. Durango did something today that wasn’t expected back in December when Estrada went down, winning a playoff game by topping visiting Cimarron-Memorial 76-71 in the Sunset quarterfinals.
  • Centennial High School coach Todd Allen calls out to players during a game against Bishop Gorman at Bishop Gorman Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. Bishop Gorman beat Centennial 79-71 in double overtime.
    Centennial keeps its cool in win over Durango
    At halftime, the game was playing out the way many thought it would. Centennial went on a substantial run in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead over a talented, but outgunned Durango team. That mentality changed after the Trail Blazers reeled off a big run of their own to start the second half.
  • Former Durango High basketball coach Al La Rocque during the 2008 season, which was the last in his 34-year career in Southern Nevada. La Rocque, after spending the past four years watching his daughter play at Stanford, is back in coaching as an assistant at Northern Arizona University.
    Local coaching legend La Rocque back on sidelines in college ranks
    Al La Rocque surveyed the basketball practice floor last week and noticed he was a little different than the other coaches. La Rocque, 61, is one of the most accomplished high school coaches in Southern Nevada history. For the next six months, he’ll try his hand in the college ranks as an assistant at Northern Arizona University, working alongside three coaches in their mid-to-late 20s or early 30s. Jack Murphy, La Rocque’s former student manager at Durango, is Northern Arizona’s first-year head coach.
  • Jack Murphy, a former manager with the Durango High School basketball team, was hired two weeks ago at Northern Arizona University. Murphy, 32, is shown coaching at the University of Memphis, where he was an assistant the past three years.
    Jack Murphy goes from team manager at Durango High to head coach at Northern Arizona
    Jack Murphy wasn’t a good enough basketball player to make the team at Durango High School in the mid-1990s. But he still was involved in the sport he was passionate about, serving as the team’s manager his final two years in starting a journey in basketball that continues to reach new heights.
  • Legacy scores 101 points to win school's first playoff game
    Legacy High’s Zach Lane scored 25 points and Cardon Harris added 24 points Wednesday to lead the host Longhorns to a 101-82 victory against Durango in the Sunset Regional quarterfinals for the school’s first playoff win
  • Joe Tuss shoots the ball during a game against Spring Valley at Durango High School in Las Vegas on Thursday, January 5, 2012.
    Durango basketball player Tuss commits to Air Force
    Durango High basketball player Joe Tuss has verbally committed to Air Force, Trailblazers’ coach DeShawn Henry said. Tuss, a 6-foot-7 shooting guard who is averaging 18.4 points and seven rebounds per game, was also recruited by Eastern Washington and Loyola Chicago.
  • Palo Verde basketball players Bronston Abad, Eris Winder, Nathan Grimes and Nahjee Matlock.
    Palo Verde escapes in memorable showdown with Durango
    If someone made a movie poster about Tuesday night’s game between Palo Verde and Durango, its tagline would have to say something like “exhilarating suspense.” The Panthers and the Trailblazers provided edge-of-your-seat excitement in the Sunset Region quarterfinals with a contest featuring a furious pace and a dramatic four lead changes in the final two minutes and 30 seconds. In the end, Palo Verde held on for a 79-75 victory.
  • Sierra Vista basketball player Viko Noma'aea.
    Sierra Vista clinches No. 2 seed with overtime win at Durango
    The Sierra Vista High basketball team Friday clinched the No. 2 seed from the Southwest Division in next week’s Sunset Regional playoffs with a 76-71 overtime victory against host Durango.
  • Bishop Gorman basketball players Johnny Brown and Ryan Parks.
    Gorman fights off spirited effort from Durango, wins opener by 33
    It didn’t take long for members of the Bishop Gorman High basketball team to be reminded of how they typically receive an opponent’s best effort each game.
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