A Wyatt Hayes steal and layup saved the Ignacio Bobcats on the road Friday.

With less than 10 seconds left to play and the Ignacio High School boys basketball team trailing by one point, Hayes stole the ball and ran the length of the floor for a basket that gave Ignacio a 38-37 lead with 4.4 seconds left to play. Ridgway couldn’t make a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, and the Bobcats survived a scare.

Hayes finished with 10 points in the game. Nicholas Herrera added nine points, Anthony Manzanares finished with eight and Tucker Ward added seven. Eli Hagemeyer scored a game-high 17 points for Ridgway, scoring 10 points in the third quarter alone to match Ignacio’s combined effort.

IHS (14-2, 9-0 San Juan Basin League) trailed by as much as 26-20 in the third quarter but tied the game on a Ward 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter, and it was neck-and-neck from there. Two key missed free throws by Ridgway with 10 seconds to go hurt the Demons (10-7, 5-5 SJBL).

jlivingston@durangoherald.com