Days removed from a state championship football season, the Bayfield High School boys basketball team faced one of the toughest tests it will see all year.
The Wolverines hit the road to face Class 3A’s preseason No. 3 Kent Denver (1-0) at the Herman Schayes Tournament at Kent Denver. No. 9 Bayfield (0-1) trailed 26-8 in the second quarter but cut the deficit to 28-20 at halftime. The Wolverines were as close as 50-49, but a desperation 3-pointer from Ryan Phelps at the buzzer was no good and Kent Denver held on to win 52-49.
James Doyle, a 6-foot-5 forward for Kent Denver, had a game-high 20 points, and 6-foot guard Colby Gold finished with 18 points.
Phelps led Bayfield with 19 points. Bayfield felt its star forward was fouled on the game’s final shot, but there was no whistle.
Keyon Prior finished with 10 points for Bayfield. Carl Heide added nine and combined with brother Dawson Heide on big back-to-back 3s in the second quarter that cut the Kent Denver lead.
Prior had a chance to tie the game at 50 but missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 8.9 seconds remaining.
The Wolverines were without junior Hayden Farmer, who rested an injured ankle suffered while he quarterbacked the football team to last week’s state title.
Bayfield will play one more game Saturday in Denver before returning home. The Wolverines will face The Pinnacle Charter Academy at 12:30 p.m. Pinnacle beat St. Mary’s 70-63 on Friday.
Durango High School’s boys basketball team had a distinct size advantage on the Skyhawks of Newcomb, New Mexico, but didn’t take advantage and fell 36-32 in the consolation bracket of the Shiprock Chieftain Invitational Friday morning in Shiprock.
“We didn’t establish our inside game,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “We were taller than them by an average of about six inches, but we didn’t establish our inside game. I think we only had three more offensive rebounds than them. We needed to establish ourselves inside the paint and we didn’t do that today.”
The Demons (0-2) and Skyhawks (2-1) kept the game close through most of the day. Durango held a 26-20 lead in the closing minutes of the third quarter, but struggled to take care of the ball and turnovers helped Newcomb rally back in the fourth quarter.
Stats from the game were not available.
Durango will close out the tournament against Bloomfield’s junior varsity team in the seventh-place game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Girls Basketball
Girls BasketballA slow start doomed the Durango High School girls basketball team to a 55-22 loss to Rifle in the Demons’ season opener Friday afternoon at the Branda Patch Tournament at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale.
Rifle (1-0) held a 20-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“It wasn’t our finest outing,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “We missed a lot of shots and when you don’t score it’s tough to get into any pressure defense. Our transition defense needs to improve, but those are all things we can get better at.”
Freshman Kyle Rowland and junior Taylor Dossey had four points each for the Demons (0-1). Elly Waters and Masi Smith led Rifle with 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Durango will face Steamboat Springs at the tournament at noon Saturday.
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