The Demons took care of business in their home opener of the District 5-5A Tournament, advancing to the semifinal match. With their convincing 56 to 48 victory over Manzano High, the Demons’ hopes of qualifying for the 5A State tournament are still alive. The team travels to Albuquerque on Wed., Feb. 22 for a highly anticipated rubber match with the Rio Grande Ravens, the second seed in the 5-5A district.

Tension surrounds the teams’ third meeting after the Feb. 17 home game ended in an uprising of anger and disputation from the Rio Grande faithful after the Demons won by two. An apparent last-second scoring error made by the scorecard official gave the Demons an extra point, a “blatant attempt to cheat,” according to infuriated Rio Grande fans. The loss for the Ravens essentially placed them second in the district, rather than leaving them in first for the tournament.

“Our whole bench knew the circumstances of the game and wanted the point that they added to be taken away,” explains forward Owen Lock. “We wanted to play for a tie to go into overtime to score more points. We needed to win by 7 to tie for first in the district, but we only won by two. It was a strange situation: we just won, but no one was excited. We won the game, but we didn’t win first in district.”

The Ravens are thirsty for revenge. The Demons look to erase the asterisk on Friday’s game. Both teams are desperate to advance.

“I think it’s going to be a really intense game,” said Owen.

The two teams face off Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. on Rio Grande High School’s home turf.