Always seeming to be in the right place at the right time, Caleb Pugh wasn't on the BHS Gymnasium court last Friday night when his team needed him most-with just over two seconds remaining.
Not that the senior would have necessarily stopped Bayfield sophomore Ryan Phelps from getting the ball with a chance to send the game into overtime, but in the spirit of upcoming Christmas.it would have been the thought which counted.
Slapped with a technical foul for slapping the backboard in a vain attempt at rejecting one of the visitors' shots earlier in the fourth quarter, and still looking to make appropriate amends, Phelps caught an inbounds pass-originating near Coach Jeff Lehnus and the Wolverine bench-just left of a dead-on view of the hoop, while standing behind the three-point arc and BHS behind three points.
Able to create the necessary space for an uncontested try, Phelps fired but missed to the right, and the pre-holiday portion of Bayfield's 2015-16 slate was concluded with a 63-60 loss to the Blanding, Utah Broncos.
Phelps asserted himself early, with seven points-including one trey-helping BHS stay close to SJHS during a first quarter as uptempo as the fourth. The high-flying forward/center matched Pugh's 15 points. Pugh fouled out with 4:28 left in the game; Phelps finished with four personals. But Phelps was just 2-of-6 at the free-throw line where the Wolverines as a unit struggled at 14-of-26.
Despite the absence of senior post Zane Phelps, Bayfield battled back to lead 31-27 at halftime thanks to five of sophomore Hunter Killough's 12 points and five of senior Taed Heydinger's 13, and the fact that San Juan's long-range attacking was almost always off-target.
But after the Class 2A Broncos (4-2, 0-0) tied at 39-39 when the third quarter expired, one clutch bucket wouldn't be enough for either side during the furious final eight minutes.
BHS got two threes and eight points from Heydinger, four from freshman guard Keyon Prior and four from freshman reserve wing Hayden Farmer.
In fact, the Wolverine backups out-performed the Broncos' bench, totaling 10 points to San Juan's five. Despite each team sinking only half of its 10 fourth-quarter freethrows, time and luck simply ran out on Bayfield.
As it then unfortunately did the following evening on the road at 1A Monticello, Utah.
Heydinger paced BHS (1-5, 0-0 3A Intermountain) with 16 points, and Ryan Phelps battered the Buckaroos for 10 points and 15 rebounds, but MHS held on to win 56-47.
Prior added nine points in defeat for the Wolverines who, having kept the game within a point through 24 regulation minutes, once again pressed the issue until coming up short at the very end.
After the holiday break, the Wolverines will next see action Jan. 5, 2016, at 2A Mancos. The Blue Jays (3-2, 2-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) are looking to build upon a 92-11 SJBL thrashing of Nucla (1-2, 0-2).
