The latest edition of the Jeff Lehnus era for the Bayfield High School basketball team began with a win Thursday night in Bayfield.
Preston Hardy scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, sinking a floater with 40 seconds left to ice a 62-51 win for the Wolverines over Aztec.
The Tigers turned an 18-point halftime deficit into a close game halfway through the fourth quarter when BHS (1-0) started fouling and turning the ball over more frequently.
“We allowed them to creep back in because we’ve got to get a little better in our thinking process of time-score management,” Lehnus said. “We did respond and finished it out. There was no panic. We dealt with the frustrations a little bit.”
Aztec (1-1) could have cut the deficit to two possessions with under a minute left, but Ethan Tso traveled attempting to pass to an open Nick Weaver under the basket.
Weaver caused BHS problems when he played, but foul trouble limited him to barely any time in the first half.
He fouled out late in the fourth quarter, the third Tiger and fourth total player to be disqualified in the game.
Both teams reached the double bonus in both halves and combined to shoot 55 free throws.
“I think we’re going to have to get used to the way they’re calling the game,” said Dillon Hoselton, son of Rick and Stephanie Hoselton.
The Wolverines, however, made 16 from the stripe compared to 13 for Aztec.
Tso hit 10 free throws for the Tigers and led the team with 18 points in the game.
He was the only Aztec player in double figures compared to three for the Wolverines.
Seniors Conner Kennedy and Hoselton scored 13 and 12, respectively for BHS.
BHS led 37-19 at halftime.
Most of that came as a result of excellent post passing between Hardy and the Wolverines’ other big men, Aubry Brown and Zane Phelps.
“It creates balance, and that’s what we’ve been working on,” Lehnus said.
Hardy didn’t miss a shot until there were 3 minutes, 50 seconds left in the second quarter.
BHS opened the game on a 7-2 run powered by five points from Hardy.
The only thing that kept the Wolverines off the board was turnovers, which they made more than 20 of in the game.
“The reality of it is, you’re not going to play championship-level basketball every night, and you find a way to win anyway,” Lehnus said.
BHS will take a short break before its next competition, a Dec. 12-13 tournament in Buena Vista.
The Wolverines will open with the hosts before playing perennial Class 3A contender Jefferson Academy on Dec. 13.
“We want to show that, to ourselves, that it is possible for us to be there, to go compete,” Lehnus said. “It’ll Show us Where we are right now. Given my druthers, I’d rather have it later in the season, so I would have more time to evolve us and what we do. What’s nice about it is it’ll be a guidepost for us.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
