BY MICHAEL DAVID
It was a seesaw affair Thursday night on the hardwood in Hailey.
And the Great Basin Conference matchup of the Wood River Wolverines and the Burley Bobcats came down to the final shot.
The Wolverines’ senior big man, Travis Swanson, banked in a layup with 1.9 seconds remaining in the game to carry Wood River to a 51-49 victory over their rivals.
Things didn’t start well for the home team as Burley jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter. But the Wolverines battled back behind two 3-point shots from Bodie Bennett (6 points), to tie the game at 10-10 at the end of the first period.
Senior Cade Schott (9 points) hit back-to-back baseline jumpers and Brock Mary (13 points) added a three-pointer to put the Wolverines up by seven points, 17-10. But the Bobcats would battle back, trimming the Wood River lead to 23-18 at the half.
The third quarter belonged to the visitors, as Burley outscored Wood River 18-11 to take a two-point lead over the Wolverines with one quarter to play.
Schott hit a three-point shot to open the fourth period and give the lead back to Wood River. The final quarter would see five lead changes and six ties before Swanson put the Wolverines ahead for good in the final seconds.
Swanson ended up with seven points in the final quarter and 11 points overall. Mary hit all six of his free-throw attempts on the night, including two big foul shots after Burley head coach, Jack Bagley, picked up a technical foul with 2:30 left in the game, and the score tied at 44-44.
Sophomore guard Jake Albright’s (8 points) layup gave the Wolverines a 49-47 lead, but two Bobcat free throws tied the score at 49-49 to set the stage for Swanson’s heroics.
“It wasn’t the play drawn up during the time out,” said Swanson, “But our sophomore point guard drew the defenders to him and passed it to me for the easy layup”.
The victory moved the Wolverines to 2-1 in conference play and 5-5 overall. Next up for Wood River is a home game against Gooding at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. They travel to Buhl on Monday, Jan. 16.