Wyatt Hayes controlled every second of Ignacio High School’s 50-33 win over Durango High School on Thursday in Whalen Gymnasium on the campus of Fort Lewis College.
He scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and made four steals while never taking a seat on the bench.
Adison Jones and Tucker Ward played all 32 minutes, too.
Jones tied with Hayes for the team lead with 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
IHS head coach Chris Valdez didn’t have much choice.
“Our bench players aren’t mentally ready for the game,” said Hayes, son of Cindy and Tim Hayes. “We’ve been running a lot. We’ve been working hard in practice getting in shape.”
The Bobcats only put eight players in the game compared to 13 for DHS.
The bench didn’t contribute much, either, combining for one rebound and a made free throw in extremely limited minutes.
IHS (5-2) didn’t need it. Their starters carried the load.
“We worked our tails off over Christmas break because we know we’re not deep,” Valdez said. “Five, six, seven or eight kids are going to take us where we’re gonna go.”
Both teams struggled to score early in the game.
They combined for 15 points in the first quarter and 33 in the first half.
“They have great defense. They pressure full-court, half-court, and it’s hard to score,” Valdez said. “We missed some easy ones early. We could have had a four or five point lead.”
Ignacio’s Nick Herrera missed a few of those layups early in the game. He found his rhythm after halftime, though, and finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
“(The coaches) told me to relax and play my game,” said Herrera, son of Chris and Kathy Herrera. “After the half, we came back out more in a calm set, and we just played our game.”
IHS held DHS to two points over the first three minutes of the second half and 11 in the third quarter.
The Demons’ shot selection didn’t do them many favors. They took open 3s early in the shot clock rather than initiating their offense.
“We’re trying to find a shot,” DHS head coach Alan Batiste said. “We struggled shooting the ball on the outside. We need to get a post presence down low. That way those outside shots can be in the continuity of the offense.”
DHS only made three 3-pointers and hit 12-of-34 from the field.
IHS outscored DHS 34-16 after halftime.
Guy Bay led the Demons with nine points, and Terrance Trujillo had seven.
“We’re on a little roller-coaster right now trying to find our identity as a team,” Batiste said. “We have a lot of individual basketball going on, and we’re trying to do the team thing.”
DHS will have a little time to dwell on the loss, though. The team plays at Piedra Vista on Tuesday.
IHS, on the other hand, knows exactly who it is – good guard play on a short bench with good defense leading to fast break offense. It’s a formula that has produced two wins over Class 4A Durango in the last two years.
The Bobcats will take those ingredients on the road Saturday to Ridgway when they resume league play.
“Its a big achievement for us,” Herrera said. “If we keep playing like this, we’ll go far this season.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
