Down 12-8 after one quarter of playing man defense, the Ignacio High School boys basketball team went back to its zone defense and went on an 18-2 run to change the game.
Ignacio (6-3, 5-0 San Juan Basin League) rolled past Telluride, 61-46, on Saturday in Ignacio. The Bobcats’ big second quarter carried over to the rest of the game against an up-and-down Telluride team (1-7, 0-3 SJBL).
“We came out real flat, missing easy shots early and got out of rhythm,” Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said. “We went on that 18-2 run to regain the lead. We came out man-to-man trying to stay with them, but we got out of sequence with dumb fouls. We play mostly zone, but we’re trying to get into man more. The second quarter, we got back to our zone where we’re more comfortable and went on that run. That was big, but we gotta get used to man because there are times when we’re gonna have to have it.”
Kai Roubideaux led Ignacio with 20 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Lawrence Valdez added 19 points, three assists and a steal, and Johnny Valdez finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Cole McCaw added five points and five assists.
Coach Valdez said he hopes to have his full team for the first time Thursday when Ignacio visits Sargent. Kruz Pardo will be eligible to play the second half of the year, and he is hopeful the team will get center Ocean Hunter back, too.
“We’re hoping to have them back for Sargent and then of course Saturday for Norwood,” coach Valdez said. “It would be the first time to have the entire team together all year, so that would obviously be big.”
The Wolverines held a slim 39-33 lead at halftime, but a huge defensive effort in the second half paid off on both ends of the floor.
Bayfield High School ran past Monte Vista for an 80-46 win Saturday in Bayfield. BHS improved to 7-4 overall and started 2-0 in the 3A Intermountain League.
“I’m pleased,” BHS head coach Jeff Lehnus said. “Any time you hold a team to 40s in scoring, that’s our goal. I’m pleased when we make more free throws than the other teams shoot, and we did that tonight. We’re continuing to execute and progress, which is critical. The defensive intensity we had in the second half caused the separation. To only give up 13 points the second half was a good performance.”
BHS senior Ryan Phelps had 22 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and four assists. Hayden Farmer added 17 points and was active on the boards to go with four assists. Turner Kennedy came off the bench and delivered 13 points. Lehnus also was happy to see Dawson Heide contribute eight points, four rebounds and three steals off the bench, and McKay Wells was an offensive threat and delivered six points.
BHS did suffer one loss, as junior Keyon Prior didn’t play the second half after he rolled his ankle in the first. Lehnus did not know the severity of the injury or whether or not Prior would be able to play this week with two big games starting with Friday at Pagosa Springs and then Saturday at home against No. 2 Alamosa.
“Here we go with Pagosa and Alamosa,” Lehnus said. “The one concern right now is Keyon. We don’t know what we’re playing with. We hope it’s not too severe and that he won’t be out long, but we won’t know his availability for next weekend. At least with tonight it happened early, so we got one half of getting used to playing without him, and we will have three days of practice to prepare in case he can’t go, but he’s a tough kid, a gamer.”
Girls basketball
Girls basketballAn early deficit didn’t knock the Bayfield High School girls basketball team off its game, as the Wolverines fought back to beat Monte Vista 51-49 for their first 3A Intermountain League win of the season Saturday at BHS.
“I was really impressed with the girls attitudes tonight,” BHS head coach Josh Kitchen said. “We’ve seen it the last couple games with the girls really playing hard and not giving up. We got into foul trouble early and were down. ... The girls kept fighting and fighting, and every time Monte Vista tried to take it away from us the girls kept fighting.”
Monte Vista (3-5, 0-2 IML) put the Wolverines (3-7, 1-1 IML) on their heels in the first quarter with a press, but BHS slowly chipped away at the deficit and took the lead late in the fourth quarter with a couple of steals the Wolverines turned into points.
Monte Vista had a look at the basket, but Mariah Barbosa’s buzzer-beater was too strong.
BHS had a well balanced scoring attack, as nine Wolverines scored in the game, and all but one had more than two points.
Jordan Lanning led Bayfield with 15 points and did most of her damage on the fast break.
Bayfield will play Friday at Pagosa Springs (7-2, 2-0 IML).
Ignacio High School’s girls basketball team did what it has been doing all year Saturday against Telluride.
The Bobcats (8-0, 5-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) took control of the game in the first quarter with its pressure defense and built a 24-4 lead en route to a 54-16 victory against the Miners (1-4, 1-1 SJBL) at IHS.
“We focused on team defense and played a well-rounded game,” Bobcats head coach Trae Seibel said. “Just about everyone got in the scorebook. The girls stayed together as a team against a pretty tall Telluride team and hit some outside shots.”
The Bobcats’ defense created a lot of their offense with steals that led to layups.
Senior captain Avionne Gomez led Ignacio with 18 points, Morgan Herrera added 15 and Allissianna Baker-Marquez finished with 10 points.
The Bobcats will play at Sargent (4-3) in a nonleague game Thursday in Monte Vista.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
