AZTEC – Operating in a freewheeling system in which possessions in the offensive end seldom lasted longer than 10 seconds, or even as long as it took to pierce visiting Bayfield’s transition defense, the Aztec Tigers never appeared to see a shot they didn’t like Friday night before their Lillywhite Gymnasium loyalists.
That particularly evident for junior Nathan Shahan and sophomore Quintin Secatero … but especially Shahan.
Somehow twisting and turning for, and inexplicably sinking two circus-style layups late in the second quarter – giving AHS a 35-27 halftime lead – he very well could have demoralized the Wolverines, who’d created far more conventional chances in their own half-court set.
And if Shahan’s first two caution-to-the-wind conversions weren’t enough do the trick, his second pair probably should have been. Offsetting BHS senior reserve Kord Tideman’s gutsy two baskets late in the third quarter, Shahan again relied on improvisation to book two more buckets of his own – and rebuild AHS’ advantage to 52-41 going into the final frame.
“Transition defense killed us in the first half,” said Bayfield senior Jackson Queen. “We just came out slow in the first half, and kind of slow in the third (quarter), but we picked it up.”
Beginning the first 2:30 of the fourth quarter with two Queen baskets and one from sophomore Lincoln Williams, Bayfield pressured Aztec into taking a timeout. It paid no dividends. Queen promptly logged a layup via a 3-on-2 rush, and with 3:15 to go, Williams took a pass in transition from senior Max Meyers and swished an equalizing three-pointer.
“I saw it was wide-open so I just shot it, and it went in,” Williams said. “Fourth quarter’s always ours. But we were down, so we had to get back on top.”
“Once he made that I knew it was over; we had the momentum,” Queen said. “When he hit that, it was just perfect.”
Dropping down from the free-throw line, senior Caden Wood then earned BHS a 54-52 lead with an easy basket off senior Lance Mazur’s inbounds pass from the baseline. Queen scored similarly with 1:50 left – plus added a free throw when Tiger junior Landan Frost fouled out trying to deny him the shot.
After surrendering 16 unanswered points, Aztec finally got two themselves thanks to senior Jedidiah Jones, but Queen and Wood each netted one more two-pointer in response. Trailing the Wolverines 61-54, win-starved AHS (1-9 overall, 0-0 NMAA Dist. 1-4A) ended the game with a last-second, corner trey by – surprise, surprise – Shahan, who racked up a team-best 17 points.
Secatero finished up with 14 points, Jones 13 and sophomore Jaden Sims seven.
For Bayfield, Wood and Meyers each tallied 10 points. Mazur scored six, Williams finished with five and Tideman four.
“We definitely turned it around in the fourth quarter,” said Queen, who totaled a game-high 20 points, including 11 in the fourth. “Defense, offense – everyone was doing everything right. If we play like that for a whole game, it’s going to be hard to beat us.”
The Wolverines (3-3 overall, 0-0 3A/4A Intermountain) will next host 2A Blanding, Utah, San Juan (3-4, 0-0 UHSAA Region 19) at 4 p.m. today.
“It was a team effort; we did our jobs and executed, got the win,” Williams said. “We’ve got to do the same thing.”
“Keep our momentum going instead of coming out flat,” said Queen, “and I think we’ll be good.”
