The Pagosa Springs Pirates were so intent on their game-tying three-pointer, they lost focus on their inbounds pass and promptly threw it out of play.
"That three.doggone him!" Bayfield Coach Jeff Lehnus said of opponent player Isaiah Griego with a laugh afterwards. He was relieved the Pirate's trey (with 0:29 left in the fourth quarter) hadn't hit his Wolverines as hard as it could have. Their hard-fought 42-39 advantage was erased by the shot. "Griego hit a tough shot there."
But after a Pagosa timeout, taken with nine seconds left in regulation after 11 wasted seconds, Griego was unable to sink another one for Pagosa Springs. His 15-foot floater failed and the 3A Intermountain League contest stayed deadlocked at 42-42 heading into the first overtime.
Inevitably, thoughts of the teams' 2014 four-overtime battle at the same site couldn't help resurfacing.
"We didn't want that," Lehnus said bluntly. But he was happy a few of his players could say they not only played in both tests inside PSHS Gymnasium, but won both, 86 to 76 then, and - thankfully after only four additional minutes - 49 to 48 now.
And the margin was as tenuous as it looked. After BHS freshman Keyon Prior sank his third free throw (in four attempts) during what was promising to be the final minute, putting the visitors up 49-45 with seven seconds left, the hosts managed to bring the ball downcourt and find sophomore Keaton Laverty open in the far corner for a prayer.
Incredibly, not only did Laverty cash the three-pointer at the buzzer, but he almost sold the officials with a backwards fall that he was fouled by Ryan Phelps on the Wolverine's block attempt. Almost.
"Overall we won the rebounding battle (26-18) tonight," said Lehnus, looking over statistics. "We hit free throws, which we didn't do last time.hit a great percentage of free throws tonight. And I like our 19 free throws versus their 10, also; we haven't always been aggressive enough against them, and we were tonight."
All told, Bayfield went 16-of-19 from the stripe while Springs finished just 5-10. Phelps was a perfect 6-6 en route to totaling a game-best 21 points, and Prior went 5-6 towards his seven.
His only basket, a left-to-right reverse layup, capped a confident second quarter in which the Wolverines wiped out the 12-9 deficit facing them after the first, and put BHS up 23-22 at halftime.
"These are big games against tight teams; they're not going to be high-scoring affairs-you've got to play 'D,' you've got to rebound and take care of the basketball," said Lehnus. "And you've got to score enough to win!"
In the third quarter, however, it appeared Bayfield (9-9, 3-4 IML) might have a problem doing so; four Phelps freethrows and one from senior Zane Phelps were all the production the boys could muster as Pagosa Springs (12-6, 5-2) got a late basket inside from senior Craig Tamburelli to end the period up 32-28.
But the Wolverines stuck to their own script and eventually regained the lead at 36-35 when Ryan Phelps converted a rebound of a Hunter Killough miss. For Pagosa, four of senior Briar Erskine's team-high 16 points kept the Pirates' hopes alive, but a Killough hoop and Phelps' last two freethrows kept BHS ahead by a digit. With 0:46 left and two freethrows of his own, Killough (six points) upped the ante to the aforementioned 42-39.
Only to learn, like the whole Bayfield roster, that PSHS wouldn't fold before losing its last chip.
"I was pleased with enough execution on both sides of the basketball; everybody contributed something tonight," Lehnus said. "We've shown better understanding of what we're trying to do.we've been making strides, like I've been saying, and it's starting to show. Had a game plan coming in and the kids executed it wonderfully."
Zane Phelps finished with eight points, including two baskets inside beginning OT. Senior Taed Heydinger had five points and junior Fred Edwards two via a powerful left-handed drive tying the score at 16-16 with 3:01 left in the second quarter and pressuring Sorenson into an unwanted timeout.
Griego finished with 13 points in defeat and Laverty six. Starters Ty Kimsey and Ethan Brown each had four, and junior reserve Lane Schaaf rounded out the Pirates' scoring with three.
BHS wrapped up its regular season last night versus Centauri (3-13, 1-6 after last Saturday's 71-49 loss at PSHS) but results were unavailable at press time.
"We will not take them for granted just because we beat them well last time; that would be foolish," stated Lehnus. "So we'll.play good basketball, and then comes the (district) tournament!"
