Having qualified for last season’s Class 3A state tournament as the No. 21 seed in the opening Round of 32, and able to upset 12-seed Peyton before bowing out against regional-hosting No. 5 Centauri, Bayfield boys basketball ended up a third-place 8-4 in the 3A/4A Intermountain League and ended up 16-9 overall in 2024-25.
And as good as that all was, Damon White Thunder feels his team can do even more this winter.
“These boys want it,” he said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of work, a lot of hours in the gym, so I’m looking forward to the growth. We graduated six seniors, so we’ve got a bunch of younger kids stepping up from JV. But they’ve been putting in work in the weight room plus in the gym getting bigger, stronger and faster!”
Despite losing a lot of talent – including perimeter threats Lincoln Williams and Cooper Roderick, guard/forward Isaac Forsythe, forward Austin Wilmer, plus reserves Neatris Wilbourn and Chad Vasgird – to graduation, White Thunder’s returning players, led by senior Kingston Martinez, again form a solid core.
“He’s one of our two seniors that we have,” White Thunder said about Martinez. “He’s been getting everybody going in the gym, just by being a vocal leader, and getting everybody in the weight room – he’s put on probably 15 to 20 pounds now. He’s still quick, still agile but he’s bigger this year. Looking forward to having him be our defensive stopper again, and on offense as well.”
Junior Hayes Malone emerged last year as a promising point guard and is expected to play in that capacity in ’25-26. White Thunder expects Malone to start and help the Wolverines’ offense with his shooting.
Junior forward/center Cameron Queen will be BHS’ primary paint presence, but will shoulder a greater load with senior Vin McCullough out.
“Vin, unfortunately, tore his ACL during a summer league game so he’s not back,” White Thunder said. “But Cameron … grew another couple inches this past year – now he’s about 6’4”, 6’5” – so we’re looking to get him the ball quite a bit. He’s going to be our anchor in the post defensively and offensively.”
Often used as a reserve last winter, junior Drew Jepson returns to provide more backcourt depth, and multiple members of assistant coach Bryce Finn’s 2024-25 junior varsity, which regularly put on quite a high-scoring show, will fill out the Wolverines’ roster. Names to know include senior forward Brody LaVenture, sophomore guard Harrison Williams, junior guard Xavier Sutherlin, sky-walking junior forward Tanner Vyborny (formerly Neeley) and Henry Ferrell.
The Wolverines will officially get underway Tuesday in Farmington against Piedra Vista. Tipoff inside Jerry A. Conner Fieldhouse against the Panthers, coming off a rough 7-20 (0-10 NMAA Dist. 1-5A) season – ended by a district-tournament loss to Albuquerque Cibola – last winter, is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Bayfield will then journey to Blanding, Utah, on the Dec. 6 to square off against 2A San Juan – 13-12 overall last year, and already off to a 2-1 (0-0 UHSAA Region 18) start in ’25-26 as of press time, before returning to host Durango on the Dec. 9 at 7:15 p.m.
In the 4A/3A Intermountain League, Centauri won the league last season at 26-2 overall and 12-0 in the league. Montezuma-Cortez finished second ahead of Bayfield at 9-3 in the league and 17-7 overall. Centauri lost its top three scorers from last year, and Montezuma-Cortez lost two of its top three scorers from last season.
White Thunder doesn’t have a starting rotation yet, but he’s happy with the depth Bayfield has with 10 potential starters. Playing time could come down to matchups and/or who’s playing well in practice.
“These boys … they’ve got pretty high goals that they’ve set for themselves,” said White Thunder. “I’m looking for them to kind of step forward and achieve on the floor – and ultimately be competitive in our super-competitive league.”
