Bayfield certainly made the Pine River Rivalry a little interesting on a cold Tuesday night in Ignacio.
The Bayfield High School boys basketball team erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Ignacio 56-55 in an overtime thriller that saw Bayfield senior Zane Phelps come up with a huge game.
The win marked the first time that Bayfield (5-7, 0-2 3A Intermountain League) beat Ignacio (9-2, 4-0 2A/1A San Juan League) since 2006. Phelps had another monster Pine River Rivalry game with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Last year, Phelps had 12 points and 15 rebounds in a loss. This year, however, Phelps got the win.
“In my life I have never beat Ignacio,” said Phelps, son of Dion and Koel Phelps. “They’re a great basketball team and program. They played great, so I take my hat off to them. We just came out and played great defense and they had a little off-shooting night and we took advantage of it.”
With under a minute left in regulation and Ignacio leading 50-42, Bayfield went on a 6-0 run to pull the game to 50-48.
With 24 seconds left in regulation, Ignacio’s Kruz Pardo was sent to the free-throw line for a one-and-one to help give Ignacio some cushion. Pardo missed the free opportunity, and madness ensued. With Ignacio up 50-48 Ryan Phelps found himself with the ball with 5.3 seconds and was fouled to send him to the free-throw line. Ryan Phelps missed both free throws, but Zane Phelps came up with the rebound. Ignacio’s Wyatt Hayes blocked Phelps’ shot, but the ball fell perfectly into the hands of Bayfield freshman Keyon Prior who hit a put-back at the buzzer to send the game into overtime tied at 50.
“This was a special win because this hasn’t been much of a rivalry,” Bayfield head coach Jeff Lehnus said. “I’m extremely proud of the guys. I feel like we’d be in this position if we didn’t lose all that time with the football season. We have been inexperienced and they didn’t panic, and normally panic would have set in.”
What looked to be another Ignacio win turned out to be a Bayfield come-from-behind miracle. Before the game, Lehnus said he believed in the impossible. He got his wish.
“I believe if you work hard you tend to make your own luck,” Lehnus said. “We pride ourselves on defense.”
Both teams battled tough and at halftime the score was even at 23-23. But a 19-6 Ignacio third quarter put the Bobcats ahead with a hefty lead.
In the fourth quarter, Ignacio’s wheels seemingly came undone. Turnovers began to take shape for Ignacio and the Bobcats let Bayfield back in the game. Phelps’ rebounds were a factor down the stretch as well. None were more important than all of the offensive rebounds he grabbed to constantly give Bayfield life. Phelps had nine offensive boards.
Senior Taed Heydinger had an off night shooting the ball but still managed to contribute 13 points and six rebounds. Heydinger most clutch at the free-throw line, going 4-for-5.
Ignacio did a good job at maintaining Ryan Phelps’ presence down low. The sophomore forward finished with six points and five rebounds and was held without a field goal until the five minute mark in the fourth quarter.
Bayfield no doubt won the rebounding battle, 32-21, over Ignacio. The Wolverines played zone-defense, which frustrated Ignacio’s high-scoring offense. Ignacio usually averages 18.8 assists per game, but on Tuesday the Bobcats were held to only six, which means Bayfield pushed Ignacio out in the perimeter and collapsed when Hayes and Co. tried to penetrate.
Hayes may have finished the night with 23 points, but he also had seven turnovers.
“We need to all get on the same page and come together and rebound from this loss,” said Hayes, son of Cindy and Tim Hayes. “(Their defense) brought us out and made our passes tough. I had a lot of turnovers in the zone and they got a lot of points off turnovers. A lot of those points are my fault and I take full responsibility.”
Ignacio’s Tucker Ward finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He also went 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Anthony Manzanares finished with eight points.
“When you beat them 11 times in a row, (Bayfield) is going to come in and want it a little bit more,” Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said. “You have a lead and sometimes you become complacent and think you’ll keep it and think (Bayfield) will fall down and give up, and they didn’t. They worked their tails off and fought for every basket and fought for every rebound down the stretch. You could just see that they had a little bit bigger hop in their step down stretch than we did.”
Bayfield will take on Pagosa Springs at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Bayfield High School and Ignacio will host Dolores at 7 p.m. Friday.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
