Unable to call one last desperation timeout, Bayfield Head Coach Jeff Lehnus and his Wolverines could do little more than watch Kirtland Central senior Colby Mitchell hustle a teammate's long outlet pass to the opposite end for Tuesday night's clinching basket-allowing the Broncos to virtually flee back to their locker room fortunate to have stolen a 64-60 overtime outcome inside BHS Gymnasium.
Junior forward/center Ryan Phelps' 14 points paced four Bayfield players in double figures, but even with sophomore Keyon Prior netting 13, sophomore Turner Kennedy 12 and sophomore Hayden Farmer 11, numerous close-range misses and charity-stripe inaccuracy proved most crippling.
With about 30 seconds remaining in regulation, the ball left locals in disbelief when Kirtland junior Jariah Setzer's improbable right-wing three-pointer hit the rim twice and the backboard once before falling through the net and tying the heated contest at 55-55.
Central would get another possession and called timeout after crossing midcourt with 0:09.1 left in the fourth quarter. Another stoppage came about four seconds later, but Wolverine soph Dax Snooks foiled whatever strategy Brian Dowdy formulated with a clutch steal-allowing Lehnus to then spend a timeout with 1.6 ticks left.
Looking for a quarterback-receiver connection akin to that seen during the football season, Farmer flung the inbounds pass from midcourt towards the rim where Phelps leapt for a game-winning alley-oop. But when the ball sailed too high and out of play, KCHS unexpectedly had newfound hope.
With Bayfield (3-4, 0-0 3A Intermountain) blanketing top gun Bryson Dowdy, the Broncos managed to zip the ball to second option Setzer, establishing himself a few feet closer to the corner than where he'd hoisted his previous three-pointer. Able to catch the pass and turn while elevating, his try rimmed out at the buzzer and the teams' 2017 restart continued into a shortened fifth frame.
Central began OT with a freethrow by junior Terrin Willie and an inside hoop by heretofore-ineffective 6'6" junior Nathan Enoah.
Farmer struck back with a trey from the wing in front of the BHS bench, but the Broncos (5-6) quickly countered with Enoah cleaning up his own first-chance miss and Dowdy then hitting a deuce on their next possession for a 62-58 advantage.
Having authoritatively halted the guests' best first-half run-a 6-0 burst, producing an 11-8 pad 50 seconds into the second quarter-with a vicious two-handed jam, Phelps powered through the Broncos for one last bucket in the waning moments, of which enough remained for Mitchell's ensuing breakaway.
Dowdy finished with a game-high 23 points for Central. Setzer, whose 10 points in the second helped the Broncos build a shaky 28-27 lead at intermission (BHS led 8-5 after the initial eight minutes), totaled 17.
Only five of Setzer's points, however, came after halftime as Lehnus tasked senior Brian Mashak with shutting him down, effectively putting the onus on Dowdy to keep Central in contention.
"We lost to San Juan by 12, and they beat San Juan by 12-that's a 24-point swing," Lehnus noted afterwards. "So I am seeing improvements. But shooting nine-of-nineteen from the foul line, and missing all those layups.."
Bayfield had led 8-5 after a foul-filled first quarter, trailed 28-27 at the break, then got seven Kennedy points, a late Phelps triple and a buzzer-beating baseline 12-footer from Heide (who registered three of the Wolverine reserves' six points) to regain a 45-43 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Up next, BHS will participate in Durango's Southwest Classic this weekend, with a clash against Ignacio (3-1, 2-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin) up first at 5 p.m. Friday. The hosting Demons will then face Montezuma-Cortez (2-4, 0-0 IML) to wrap up Day 1 play. Varsity action inside the DemonDome concludes Saturday with IHS-ranked #9 in the last CHSAANow.com Class 2A Boys' poll of '16-playing host to M-CHS at 5, and Bayfield will then don its road uniforms to battle DHS.
"It's going to take all we've got," Lehnus said of the tough opponents.
Durango improved to 7-1 (0-0 4A/5A Southwestern) with a 45-32 win Tuesday night at Pagosa Springs (3-4, 0-0 IML), while Ignacio was idle-affording boss Chris Valdez a chance to scout the Bobcats' first Classic foe.
NO MORE 'STUFFING,' PLEASE: Due to a full non-league schedule, Bayfield will not participate in the Classic's junior-varsity division. Ignacio JV, however, will play M-CHS at 7 p.m. Friday, then go against Durango Saturday at the same time (DHS' JV will have faced M-CHS in the preceding game).
GIRLS GET GOING TOMORROW: Standing a deceptive 1-5 overall, 0-0 in the IML, Bayfield's girls will look to follow up their strong pre-holiday performances with a 2017-opening encounter tomorrow inside BHS Gymnasium against 2A Telluride (1-3, 1-0 SJBL).
