Nearly two weeks will have passed since the Ignacio High School boys basketball team has played a game when Bayfield High School visits at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Bobcats had games against Nucla and Ouray wiped out over the weekend because of road conditions.
BHS (8-7), conversely, has played four games over the course of that stretch.
“You need to keep playing and stay in rhythm,” IHS head coach Chris Valdez said Saturday after the Bobcats’ home game against Ouray was wiped out because of the Red Mountain road closure. “I think that helps you more than sitting and resting.”
Finding a rhythm this season hasn’t been difficult for CHSAANow.com Class 2A No. 1 IHS (13-0).
The Bobcats have won all 12 of their games this season by at least five points and triumphed by double digits in their last nine contests. They average 56.1 points per game on 43 percent shooting as a team while grabbing 30.5 rebounds per game.
Clatyon Jefferson leads the Bobcats in scoring at 13.5 points per game on 44 percent shooting.
Adison Jones averages 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
The Wolverines, conversely, have struggled of late.
BHS has lost three of its last four games, and its lone win in that stretch came via a Navajo Prep forfeit.
The silver lining, however, is that the Wolverines’ eight wins this season are more than double last season’s total (three) already.
BHS scores 59 points per game while grabbing 33.5 rebounds and dishing out 12.1 assists.
Preston Hardy leads the Wolverines in scoring at 15.1 points per game and in rebounding at nine per game.
Zane Phelps scores 8.7 points per game and Dillon Hoselton eight per game.
“I thought through the season they’ve made a dramatic improvement,” Valdez said of the Wolverines.
The Bobcats and Wolverines scrimmaged during the preseason, and Valdez has watched a handful of BHS games.
“We need to keep them from attacking the basket, so we need to play a lot better defense,” he said.
BHS hasn’t beaten IHS since a 58-57 triumph Feb. 24, 2006.
“To play Bayfield, they’re not just a good game for us and a local team, they’re a rival,” Valdez said. “They’ve been a rival since the beginning.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
