It was 70’s Night at the San Marcos Thunderhut, and the students celebrated the decade by rushing the court at halftime to do “The Hustle.”
Peter Durak brought the hustle off the bench for the Royals basketball team. Durak showed off his athleticism and speed and scored 18 points in a 54-30 romp over Dos Pueblos in a Channel League game before an overflow crowd.
Ryan McCarthy of San Marcos drives on a Dos Pueblos defender during the Royals 54-30 win. (Maddie Hoover/Presidio Sports)
The Royals improve to 17-4 on the season and 3-0 in league. Dos Pueblos falls to 3-15, 0-3.
Durak played with tremendous energy and intensity once he stepped on the court in the first quarter. He drove hard to the basket on back-to-back possessions to give the Royals a 13-5 lead at the end of the quarter.
“Durak is very good in transition, very good. And he always has been good. So, tonight was a night where he came in, brought a ton of energy defensively and then got on the run,” San Marcos coach Landon Boucher said. “Frankly, he’s pretty tough to stop when he’s going full speed. He’s fast, he’s athletic, he’s really strong.”
The energy Durak provided carried over to the rest of the team in the second quarter. After Eli Wopat scored on a tough shot for DP early in the quarter, the Chargers were held scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes. San Marcos outscored them 10-0 to increase their lead to 23-7.
“Every game that we’ve played well and every big win we’ve had this year can be attributed to our defense. We’ve never just outshot anybody in a game. It’s our defense,” said Boucher.
Asked about his energy, Durak said the whole team plays with great energy.
“That’s where we have an advantage over the other teams,” he said. “We come out with more energy and passion than everybody else.”
He gave shout outs to Walker Odell and Erik Voss for their intensity off the bench and to Scott Everman for an impressive dunk off a lob from Ryan McCarthy.
Everman scored 14 points and McCarthy, Tyson Miller and Connor Everman each had five points.
Durak continued his torrid play in the third quarter. He buried a 3-pointer to get the Royals started. Later, he made consecutive steals and finished each with a layup, the first one resulting in a three-point play.
Five of San Marcos’ baskets in the third quarter came as a result of turnovers it created.
“I thought they did a good job defensively,” DP coach Joe Zamora said. “Once again, we didn’t handle the ball very well. We had 23 turnovers. It’s hard to win games when you turn over the ball that many times.”
Jayson Williams had eight points to lead Dos Pueblos.
