The last time the Bayfield High School boys basketball team faced Delta, it was in a Class 3A regional tournament with a spot at the state tournament on the line. The game was played at BHS, and Delta upset the Wolverines. This time, Bayfield hopes to reverse that script.
“We want it so bad,” said BHS senior point guard Keyon Prior. “Me and Turner (Kennedy) were talking today in government class. We realized the seeds were flipped. Two years ago, Delta was the 28-seed when they upset us. Delta is a tough team, but they better not overlook us because we’re just as good.”
It will be an uphill battle for No. 28 Bayfield (11-10) against No. 5 Delta (18-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Delta. The winner will face the victor between No. 12 Faith Christian (16-6) and No. 21 Eaton (13-9) for a spot in the Great Eighth of the state tournament.
A year ago, Bayfield hosted a regional for a second consecutive year. A year after it fell 78-75 to Delta in the 2017 regional championship game, the Wolverines punched their ticket to state in 2018 and went on to claim the first basketball state title in school history.
The road to repeat has already seen plenty of adversity. The Wolverines began the season 3-4 before it rolled off seven consecutive victories. But that win streak has been followed with six losses in the last seven games for the defending champs.
Still, with four of five starters back from last year’s title team, first-year Wolverines head coach Klint Chandler is confident his team has the experience to overcome the slump that included two Intermountain League tournament losses to finish fourth,
“They’ve been there. They know what it takes to get back. I think we’re gonna be fine,” Chandler said before Tuesday’s practice. “The IML, I could argue, was one of the toughest leagues there was. It was dependent on the day and the matchup of who won in the IML.
“The guys were upset we lost. Nobody likes to lose. I think these kids will be fine. They compete, they feel up to the work. They want to get back to where they were last year.”
To Chandler’s point, five of the 32 teams in the state tournament come from the IML. Bayfield, which finished second in the league in the regular season but fourth in the tournament, was actually the lowest seed of the five. Montezuma-Cortez, winner of the league tournament, is No. 7 and could see No. 10 Centauri in the Sweet 16. Alamosa earned the No. 18 seed and is in No. 2 Sterling’s bracket for the first two rounds. And then there was No. 25 Pagosa Springs, which Bayfield beat twice during the season but had a higher RPI than the Wolverines.
None of the league play will matter Friday when the Wolverines meet Delta in a matchup loaded with experienced upperclassmen.
Delta has averaged 58.7 points per game this season. It went 9-0 to win the Western Slope league. It beat Coal Ridge 56-54 in overtime of the district semifinals before it went on to beat Roaring Fork 50-39 in the district title game. The Panthers have won 10 consecutive games dating back to a 50-34 home loss to Palisade.
Earlier this year, Delta beat Centauri, a team that beat Bayfield three times this year, 54-40, though the Panthers lost 50-34 to Alamosa, who the Wolverines swept in the regular season.
Coached by second-year head coach Robert Ames, the Panthers are led in scoring by four seniors in Kyle Mock, (9.6 points, 6.4 rebounds per game), Andrew Baier (8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds per game), Jonathan Robinson (8.3 points, 4.5 rebounds per game) and John Ames (7.3 points). Junior Alexis Fausto rounds out the top five in scoring at 6.3 points per game, while junior Hunter Hughes and senior Joe Bules each have 5.4 points per game.
John Ames is a 3-point shooter who has made 40 percent on 98 attempts. Delta scores with efficiency, as Baier has shot 52 percent, while Bules has made 50 percent and Robinson 47 percent of shots from the floor. Hughes also has 58 steals this year.
“There’s a reason they’re hosting,” Chandler said of Delta.
The Wolverines have averaged 52.5 points per game this year and shot 40 percent from the field as a team. Kennedy has led the way in scoring with 16.9 points per game to go with 5.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game. Senior Hayden Farmer is second on the team at 12.1 points per game to go with a team-high 6.2 rebounds. Prior has chipped in 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, while big man Ethan Morris has given the team 6.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Chandler said it is imperative that his team find ways to make baskets early and start strong.
“We realize we didn’t shoot well against Centauri and we didn’t rebound well against Cortez. A few possessions here or there swung those games. If we can flush that out of our mind and come back strong this week, we will be in good shape. All you need is a ticket to the dance,” Prior said.
Bayfield would love another matchup with the Faith Christian Eagles, which knocked the football team out of the state tournament in the quarterfinals this season. Many of the Wolverines remember that matchup as well as the 3A state basketball semifinal game a year ago won 45-42 by Bayfield a day before the Wolverines beat Lutheran 68-57 in the state championship game.
The Eagles finished second in the Metro League with a 9-1 record behind only No. 3 Manaul (19-3, 10-0). Faith Christian is on a two-game losing skid going into the weekend after a 58-45 loss to No. 1 Lutheran in the league tournament and a 40-39 loss to Kent Denver.
Junior Caleb Ruter has led the Eagles with 16.7 points per game to go with 7.2 rebounds per contest. Junior Isaiah Kroll has given 14.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and Graham Kroll has averaged 9.6 points and 3.1 assists this year.
Eaton went 7-3 in the Patriot League to finish fourth behind champion and second-seeded Sterling (21-1, 10-0). The Reds are fresh off a 59-57 overtime loss to Strasbrug in the league tournament.
The Reds have received 15.8 points per game from sophomore Scott Grable and another 9.3 points per game from Nic Inda. Sophomore Ryan Ure has been a force with 8.5 points and 10 rebounds per game.
This first-round game is between two teams from strong leagues who won’t go down without a fight.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
