In the motion picture of some 23 years ago was a movie entitled, "Animal House," about a fraternity at a fictional Eastern college. In that comedy, was the phrase, "Don’t get mad, get even."

That’s exactly what the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys and girls basketball teams did Friday night, Feb. 16, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym against rival Durango in Southwest League basketball action. After both Panther teams were drubbed in Durango (boys 64-32 boys and 65-50 girls) back on Jan. 26. However, the Panther boys dropped the Class 5A Demons 67-56 and the girls nipped Durango 35-34.

A loss by the boys or the girls could have sent the teams on a tailspin going into this week’s Class 4A District VII Basketball Tournament in Grand Junction. However, an emotional win by both of those teams could be enough to propell them into the next round of post-season competition.

In the girls’ game, sophomore Stefanie Allison calmly sank two free throws with just over a minute to play to give the Panthers a slim 35-33 lead. But Durango’s Karen Theiss missed a three but grabbed her own rebound and was fouled. With only 38 seconds left, she made one of the two for the final difference in the game. The Demons had a final opportunity to win after Cortez had made a costly turnover but a subsequent traveling call ended the threat.

The game was tied at 33-all with a little more than a minute to play in the fourth quarter when Durango went on a torrid 11-0 run which started with about four minutes remaining. The Demons turned several turnovers into baskets during that stretch.

But up until that time, the Panthers had played well for the first three quarters going into the final frame. Cortez led 7-5 at the end of the first and 12-9 at the half. MCHS outpointed Durango 10-8 in the third quarter but the Demons came back strong in the fourth, outscoring the Panthers 17-6.

Emilie Lanier led the Panthers with 12 points while Allison gunned in 10 and Newlin six. Jamie Pratt paced Durango with nine while Theiss added eight.

The Panthers finished the regular season with a 3-7 SWL slate and a 6-13 overall record under first-year coach Stan Yake.

Marcus Mortensen had an outstanding night as he scored a game-high 24 points, including hitting 21 of 22 free throws, in leading the Panther boys to the big win.

Most of those free throws made by Mortensen came at the tailend of the game when the Demons were forced to foul. He sank 15 of 16 tries alone in the fourth quarter. The Panthers, incidentally, made 32 of 38 for the game. The Panthers led 39-29 going into the quarter. The Demons rallied behind the shooting of Nick McCoola, who canned several from three-point land during the period, and pulled within three at 45-42 early on. But the Panthers managed to hold on.

Cortez trailed during much of the early going but led 27-24 at the half. The Demons led 16-13 after the first period. But Cortez, which has a good perimeter shooting team, sank several threes by Gabe Evans, Chris Garland and Jeff Anderson, during the spurt to the half.

Also finishing in double-figures were Garland with 11 and Anderson with 10 for MCHS.