Michael Pineda
DUNCAN — For Mikel Davison and Lonnie Nunley, the long-winding road of careers built on high school basketball will lead to Duncan tonight when the Demons host Cache.
Nunley, a former player for Davison at Waurika, will lead the Bulldogs into a match-up against the Demons which have jumped out to a 3-1 start. Cache owns a 1-3 record and is coming off of a 58-56 win over Moore.
“Lonnie does a great job,” Davison said. “We have a lot of similarities. He is a strong man guy and runs a lot of motion. He runs more sets than I do. He did a real good job at Apache and is doing a good job at Cache. They have been well-coached and this ballclub is no exception.”
This will be the second home game of the season for Duncan, which defeated Elgin 63-60 in the season opener. That crowd left a positive impression on Davison. Dating back to last season, Duncan’s home court has proved to be an “inferno” as the Demons hold a 7-0 record when playing in front of it’s fans.
“It was great,” Davison said. “We were a little tight in the season opener but the kids played hard and the fans were enthusiastic. That’s the thing I love about basketball. It’s such an up close and personal thing.”
The Demons are coming off of a 53-46 win at Ada after spending the week putting in work on different aspects of the game. Some of the things that Davison and the coaching staff focused on during the week was rebounding and turnovers.
“We had less than 15 turnovers which is good for high school,” Davison said. “That was something that they took upon themselves.
“We are making quite a bit of headway and the kids are buying into stuff. We had five kids lay out for loose balls against Ada.”
Davison also made a change in the rotation, bringing up freshman Jack Braught to fill a role off of the bench.
“We needed more depth and he has the tools to do it,” Davison said. “The best Demon plays and he has earned that right.
“I want kids that will play and play hard. I feel like we have 13 players and we are going to get deeper.”
- Michael Pineda is the sports editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 143, or via e-mail at m.pineda@duncanbanner.com.
