Two comments from the Bayfield bench aptly applied a humorous touch to the winter's first game:
"How do you use this thing?" senior center Preston Hardy asked, looking down at the square mat in front of the scorer's table. It's meant to offer incoming players extra grip for their shoes.
"Quit fouling and stopping the clock!" urged Head Coach Jeff Lehnus, knowing the officials' increased attention to hand-checking would offer the Wolverines' first opponent of the 2014-15 season their only way to claw back into last Thursday's contest inside BHS Gymnasium.
Behind senior guard Ethan Tso's 11-of-17 free-throw shooting, Aztec, N.M., had at least a fighting chance to climb out of a 37-19 halftime hole. BHS senior Hardy, taking the action right to counterpart Nick Weaver, blew up for 11 points in the first quarter and had totaled 15 by the break.
Fortunately, foul-line accuracy also provided the Wolverines a safety net as well. With three Aztec players fouled out in the second half, 3A BHS buried 13 freebies in 18 second-half attempts to secure a 62-51 victory over the 5A Tigers.
"For our first game.not a bad first half," Lehnus said. "Second half was a different story, but we found enough to win and that's an important thing. When we weren't fouling we did a pretty good job."
Senior guard Conner Kennedy was the only Bayfield player to foul out, doing so with 1:13 remaining in the game, but he managed to score 13 points before departing. Hardy amassed a game-high 21 points, and Dillon Hoselton netted an even dozen.
"Second half we came out flat-had the lead and we weren't sure how to incorporate that into the second half-but the fourth quarter we kind of picked it up again," said Hoselton, a senior. "We were excited to come out and play this year, that's for sure," he continued. "In the locker room everybody was pumped and we were ready to go."
AHS (now 2-2 overall) was 15-of-30 at the charity stripe, and BHS 18-of-33.
"We're going to have to get used to what the refs are calling this year, with the new rules. We're going to have to move our feet a lot more, because we're just bodying up people and that's how we're drawing fouls," Hoselton added. "So we're going to have to work on that for sure."
"I would say that to every aspect there was bright moments," said Lehnus, "but the task right now is to establish four quarters of consistent basketball. The reality is, you're not going to play championship basketball every night so you find a way to win anyway. It always feels good to get the season started off with a 'W.'"
Underway but now having had more than a week off from battle, the Wolverines will get back into action this weekend, Dec. 12-13, at the Buena Vista Invitational before then hosting 2A Mancos on Dec. 18.
Both 3A BVHS' Demons and MHS' Blue Jays were 'Receiving Votes' teams in the preseason CHSAANow.com rankings out Nov. 24, and Bayfield is slated to face BVHS at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
Also scheduled to attend are 3A's Pagosa Springs, Parachute Grand Valley, Salida, Granby Middle Park, Lafayette Peak to Peak, Gunnison, Federal Heights The Pinnacle and Broomfield Jefferson Academy-the classification's preseason #5, and against which BHS will line up on Day 2 at 11:30 a.m.
