BAYFIELD
Dillon Hoselton looked over at Geoff Pope sitting on the bench, exhaled and smiled.
It was that kind of game for the Bayfield High School boys basketball team against CHSAANow.com Class 3A No. 10 Centauri on Saturday in Bayfield.
The Wolverines prevailed 59-52 over the Falcons for their second consecutive win.
BHS (10-8, 4-3 Intermountain League) outscored Centauri (13-5, 5-2 IML) 22-11 in the fourth quarter after trailing for much of the first three quarters.
Pope tied the game at 35 with a 3-pointer with 1 minute, five seconds remaining in the third quarter that brought the Wolverines’ bench to its feet.
BHS made 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch and executed against Centauri’s late-game press to seal the victory.
“The biggest thing was just making sure we stayed with our game plan the whole game,” BHS head coach Randy Stephens said. “Even when we fell behind, we knew we were still executing well enough to be even or ahead. We had a lot of people step up and make big plays in different situations.”
Taed Heydinger scored 15 points off the bench to lead BHS, while Zane Phelps scored 14 and Preston Hardy 13.
The Wolverines made eight steals, but many of them came in the second half and led to easy fast-break opportunities.
“We knew we had it. We were playing at home in front of our home crowd,” said Phelps, son of Dion and Koel Phelps. “We knew it was all good.”
Phelps also grabbed nine rebounds and made a 3-pointer to put the Wolverines up 52-45 with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left.
He ripped the protective mask he’s had to wear for the last two games after needing stitches because of an elbow he took against Ignacio High School on Tuesday and celebrated with his teammates.
“It is so hard (to play with the mask),” he said. “You can’t see a thing, and it’s really hot.”
BHS managed to stay patient early in the game against Centauri’s pace and pressure.
The Wolverines worked through their offensive sets multiple times looking for a good shot instead of trying to match the Falcons’ pace.
“We knew that they were going to jam right away,” Stephens said. “We figured if we could break them down by reversing the ball, some things would open up for us.”
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Centauri and brought the Falcons to just a half-game lead over Monte Vista for first place in the IML.
They will play each other Tuesday.
BHS will finish its regular season at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Alamosa.
The Mean Moose won the team’s first matchup 54-47 on Feb. 1.
“This is huge; this one sets us up for next week and the week after (in the IML tournament),” Stephens said. “You can’t put too much emphasis on one game, but this game was by far the biggest game we’ve had all year.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
