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High School Sports

November 30, 2008

Demons rolling into season opener

Duncan takes lessons from Ada scrimmage

Michael Pineda

DUNCAN — For the first time this preseason, an opponent gave Duncan all it wanted. And the team responded in a good way.

The Demons wrapped up their preseason with a scrimmage against Ada on Saturday. The team came into the contest looking to use it as a barometer of where it stood, and it found out, as it learned the lesson of dealing with adversity.

After taking the first quarter by a 17-8 margin, the Duncan regulars dropped their second quarter 13-10 and fell behind 11-4 in the third. At that point, Duncan had a gut-check.

“I just challenged them,” Duncan head coach Scott Smith said. “Good teams that have adversity can fight back. I challenged them to hook it up a little bit more.”

The Demons could not have responded any better as far as Smith was concerned. Duncan ended the quarter with a 18-3 run and then followed up with a 27-9 win in its fourth quarter.

“I was proud of them,” Smith said. “It’s real easy when you get behind to give up and get out of the system, but they stayed with it.”

The lesson in responding to adversity was one that can’t be learned in practice and it was not the only thing that the team learned about itself during the scrimmage.

Defensively, the Demons turned in an outstanding performance against a guard-oriented Cougar team ranked in the Top 20.

Duncan was able to force turnovers in its press as well as its half-court defense which allowed it to pick up easy transition points. The key to the comeback in the third quarter was Kyle Lee’s three consecutive steals.

“They had some real quick guards,” Smith said. “I told the guys that we’re going to get beat some on our press, but over four quarters, we are going to get some steals.”

Steals played heavily in the 27 points that Duncan scored in the fourth quarter. Clint Sylvester served as the catalyst with eight points. Offensively, Duncan continued to make strides in its offense. Senior Bradley Toone struggled with his outside shot early but compensated with an ability to create his shot while getting in the lane. Dylan Dismuke also continued to make strides with his offensive game in the paint.

Another plus for Duncan was its ability to get out and run off of made baskets. The Demons started the scrimmage with four quick points forcing Ada to call a timeout.

Also having a big day for Duncan was its second group. After getting handled in its first two quarters, the Demons picked it up a notch and had its best outing of the preseason.

Duncan will look to ride the momentum gained from the preseason when it opens the season at Northwest Classen on Tuesday.

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