In the battle of Southwest Colorado cats, the Wolverines beat up on the Bobcats Friday night.
Longtime small-school rivals Bayfield and Ignacio squared off in the first game of the inaugural Four Corners Boys Basketball Tournament at Durango High School.
Though Ignacio has dominated the rivalry in recent years, winning 10 of the last 12 meetings, Bayfield owned this chapter from the opening tip.
The Wolverines (4-4) stormed out to a 17-2 lead and blew the game open before the Bobcats (3-2) could gather themselves.
Ten Wolverines got in the scoring column as Ryan Phelps led the way with 17 points and eight rebounds as Bayfield ran away with an impressive 77-41 win. Though Bayfield won this time, Ignacio leads the all-time rivalry 71-70 dating back to 1948.
“Ignacio has been a big rival of ours, and anytime you beat a rival, it’s a good win.” Phelps said. “The way we did it was great, too. Nobody really stood out, so it was a great team win.”
Phelps was dominant in the post and on the boards for Bayfield, but Keyon Prior led the Wolverines to a fiery start out of the gate. The Bayfield sophomore scored seven of the game’s first nine points as BHS built a massive lead in the opening eight minutes.
The Wolverines’ defense forced one turnover after another and converted at the other end to build a 19-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
“Ignacio was a step slow to start and that’s probably because they hadn’t played in a while,” Bayfield head coach Jeff Lehnus said.
“We just played really good defense and that’s what we do. The defense set the tone,” the coach said.
In the second quarter, the Bayfield offense blew the game wide open. BHS followed a 17-2 start to the game with an 18-4 second quarter run. 10 Wolverines were in the scoring column by halftime, as a 24-point second quarter gave them complete control.
“In the past, Ignacio has mostly just blown us out,” Prior said.
“We came out with the right amount of intensity and played under control. We wanted this one.”
The second half brought more of the same as Bayfield’s lead reached 40 points. The Bobcats finally got into a rhythm in the final quarter behind 11 points in the frame by Johnny Valdez, who led Ignacio with 17 points.
“We had this deer in the headlights look early and never snapped out of it,” Ignacio head coach Chris Valdez said.
“We did the same thing against Basalt when they got up big on us. We lost our heads and I don’t blame my guys, I blame myself. I couldn’t get them back on track and we’ll come back and try again (Saturday) against Cortez.”
McKay Wells added nine points off the bench for Bayfield and Prior finished with 11 points in the win.
The Bobcats will play Montezuma-Cortez at 5 p.m. Saturday before Bayfield and Durango clash at 7 p.m.
jfries@durangoherald.com
