The Bayfield High School boys basketball team destroyed Centauri 79-41 in the Intermountain League opener two weeks ago. However, a Falcons win against Pagosa Springs on Friday made Wolverines coach Jeff Lehnus and his boys a bit more cautious this time around – but that’s about all that was different.
BHS senior Ryan Phelps was a man amongst boys in the contest as the imposing big man had his way with the Falcons (8-7, 2-4 3A IML) racking up 24 points, five rebounds, five steals and four blocks as Bayfield cruised to a 64-43 win.
Keyon Prior had 14 points and five rebounds while Hayden Farmer led the team with six rebounds.
“It wasn’t quite the same as last time we played because we got off to kind of a slow start,” Bayfield head coach Jeff Lehnus said. “We pulled away in the third quarter and did what we wanted to do for most of the second half. We pride ourselves on playing good, tough defense, and the guys deserve a lot of credit for that.”
Bayfield (8-6, 4-1 3A IML) has won of its last five games and will host Montezuma-Cortez at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Every team has an off night here and there when things just don’t the team’s way, but the good teams find a way to win through the struggle. That team was the Durango High School boys basketball team Saturday night.
After losing a tough battle Friday at Fruita Monument, Durango faced what should have been a favorable matchup against 2A Telluride, but the Miners (8-6, 6-1 2A District 3) aren’t your average small school.
Telluride gave the tired Demons all they could handle, and then some, but Durango did what it had to do and came away with a 52-45 win.
“Hey, it wasn’t pretty, but we were coming off a very, very hard fought game last night,” Durango head coach Alan Batiste said. “The travel is tough, but a lot of credit goes to Telluride. They played hard and their defense gave us some major problems.”
The Miners implemented a 1-3-1 half-court trap that flustered the Demons. DHS held an eight-point lead at halftime, but a Telluride run in the third quarter cut the deficit down to two. Durango got it together, however, and ran off a 10-0 spurt that put the game out of reach.
“It was blue-collar team win,” Batiste said. “We’ll be happy to get a few days off, finally.”
Durango (12-3, 0-2 5A/4A Southwestern League) will play again at 7 p.m. Friday on the road at Grand Junction Central.
Girls Basketball
Girls BasketballThe Ignacio girls basketball team faced a physical test at Nucla Saturday, and the Bobcats passed with flying colors.
Senior Avionne Gomez led the team with 18 points before fouling out as Ignacio pulled away late to win 52-41. Makayla Howell finished with 13 points and Morgan Herrera nearly had another double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds. Larissa Gallegos played every minute for Ignacio (6-3, 3-0 2A District 3) and finished with five points to go with seven rebounds.
“That was one of the most physical girls basketball games I’ve seen in awhile,” Bobcats head coach Shane Seibel said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I’m proud of the girls. We had some players in foul trouble, but we got a great effort from the reserves off the bench, especially from the guards. The girls played great defense and won the battle on the boards.”
The Ignacio win extends the team’s perfect start in league play to 4-0.
