Steamboat Pilot & Today

Glenwood Springs — Glenwood Springs boys basketball ran away with a 66-50 win against visiting Steamboat Springs on Saturday.

The Demons, who had lost four of their past five games entering the day, avenged a 61-43 loss to the Sailors on Jan. 6.

“We’re right in the thick of it still,” said Mike McGraw, who helped solidify the win with a team-leading 23 points.

Glenwood (9-8 overall, 3-4 Western Slope League) closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run and took a 13-4 lead into the second.

The Demons kept up the pressure, extending their lead to 24-9 by halftime.

“I really challenged the boys to just play defense and take care of the basketball,” Glenwood coach Cory Hitchcock said. “If you can do that, you’re going to win basketball games.”

After the Demons extended their lead to 43-23 early in the fourth quarter, Steamboat charged back briefly to make it interesting. Using full-court pressure defense to fuel a 9-0 run, the Sailors pulled to within 43-32 with 5 minutes, 30 seconds left.

But Glenwood hit its free throws down the stretch, connecting 14 of 17 at the foul line in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they were going to show up and play tough no matter what, and they did,” Steamboat coach Luke DeWolfe said. “Give them credit. They did some nice things. We couldn’t get anything going offensively, and we missed some shots we normally hit. We were just kind of stuck in the mud the whole game.”

Jake Miller led the Sailors (7-10, 3-4) with 13 points. Justin Ditter added 11, and Kit Croop scored 9.

Steamboat next plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Battle Mountain.