Montezuma-Cortez High School staged a determined fourth-quarter rally in Bayfield on Tuesday night, but with the clock winding down, the Wolverines swished a three-pointer to win.
Even Bayfield head coach Jeff Lehnus rolled his eyes in disbelief.
The Panthers had made an impressive comeback after a 21-point third quarter by Bayfield that seemed to close the door on the Panthers at the Bayfield High School gym.
The Panthers entered the fourth trailing 36-30 after a Bayfield’s fast third-quarter finish.
Bayfield started the fourth with a basket, but the Panthers’ Quanah Casey (6 points) and junior Obed Simental (9 points) contributed three-pointers to tie the game at 41.
Braden Keetch (8 points) put Montezuma-Cortez up 45-43 with 4:04 remaining. A tough leaner in the lane by Bayfield junior forward Ryan Phelps tied the game at 45 with 1:10 left. With 30 seconds left, Phelps whipped a no-look pass from the top of the arc down to sophomore forward Hayden Farmer about three feet from the rim, and Farmer’s easy conversion put Bayfield up by two.
M-CHS junior Jasen Engel, who logged a team-high 16 points despite being the focus of the Bayfield defense, coldly canned two free throws with 0:12 remaining to tie the contest again at 47-47.
It wasn’t enough.
Bayfield’s Keyon Prior took control of the ball, but the Panthers defense forced him to look for help. Popping out from the foul line to the three-point arc, Phelps was Prior’s only option.
With the clock zeroing out, and receiving Prior’s pass under pressure, Phelps forced up a flat three-pointer that swished the net for the win in 3A Intermountain League action.
The fans stampeded the floor.
“Yeah, that’s the way we plan it every night-to have to make a game-winning shot!” Bayfield coach Lehnus deadpanned afterward.
“Give Cortez credit,” he said. “This is a good team; we didn’t underestimate them.”
Phelps finished with a game-best 17. He had all of Bayfield’s first-quarter points as M-CHS slow-played their way to a three-point lead after eight minutes. After two fouls sent Phelps to the bench, the Panthers (5-10, 2-4 IML) increased their lead to 19-15 at the half.
“Came out shooting pretty good, had pretty good defense, but there was nothing we could really do with great shooters like them,” Casey lamented.
From the free-throw line, Bayfield was 8-of-9 and Montezuma-Cortez was 10-18.
Joel Priest, of the Pine River Times, reported this story from Bayfield.