Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Leyton center Brennen Cruise scores a basket, as Potter-Dix center Luke Johnson defends.
POTTER — For about 10 minutes of playing time Tuesday evening, Potter-Dix High School’s boys basketball team hung around with visiting Cheyenne County rival Leyton. That’s when Sam Schumacher got into the act, and it was lights out for the Coyotes.
Schumacher, held scoreless for the first quarter, buried a 3-point basket from the right wing early in the second period, igniting a 40-7 run that propelled the Warriors (4-0, 2-0) to an easy 69-32 Minuteman Activities Conference road victory.
Down 7-0 early, P-D (1-4, 1-1) played on even terms with LHS for a quarter, then put up the first five points of the second period on a 3-pointer from Kyle Gorsuch and a basket by Brady Knigge.
But that 18-13 lead was wiped out completely, courtesy of a 15-2 Warriors rally to end the first half.
Leyton began pressuring the Coyotes’ guards, and center Brennen Cruise asserted himself on the inside, all good for a 28-20 halftime lead.
“We played a zone in the second quarter, and our kids think that means to stand around,” LHS coach Gary Oltmann said. “Offensively, we managed to get to halftime with the lead. We wanted to get back out there and play some old-style, pick-and-roll offense. We knew the inside would be open (with Cruise), so we started making the extra pass, which was good to us early in the game.”
Leyton went on a 21-5 move in the third period, which was chock-full of converted steals and runout scores. Dylan Brennan led all scorers with 20 points, and had three scores during the frame.
“We didn’t move much in the second half, and we forced up shots,” P-D coach Chad Miller said. “We weren’t getting the loose balls, either.”
Leyton continued to roll down, and wound up outscoring P-D 41-12 in the second half, and all told, 56-14 after falling behind early in the second quarter,
“Potter made a run at us, but we answered,” Oltmann said.
Brennan scored 20, Cruise 17 and Schumacher 16 for Leyton.
“Once Sam gets rolling it’s hard to stop him,” Oltmann said. “This rivalry for Sam goes back to grade school, before I got here to coach. He likes this gym, and he likes beating Potter. He kinda feeds off the rivalry.”
Bryant Knigge scored 13 to lead Potter-Dix, which shot just two free throws. Leyton committed just six personal fouls.
“There are some things we are working on in practice,” Miller said. “Our guys have to become acclimated with the offense and we need to get to where we can think instinctively. There were times we’d get ball inside, couldn’t make layups, and the other players would not react.”
Potter-Dix has another tough customer Friday night when it travels to Caliche, Colo., while Leyton plays at Banner County Friday before what should be a Saturday battle of unbeatens at Hemingford.
“They beat us in triple-overtime last year,” Oltmann said of Hemingford. “It should be one of our biggest games of the season.”
Leyton 69, Potter-Dix 32
Leyton 13 15 21 20-69
P-D 13 7 5 7-32
Leyton (4-0): AWFrerichs 4 0-1 8, Melzer 2 0-0 4, Schumacher 5 4-6 16, Schuessler 0 2-2 2, Brenner 7 2-3 20, Cruise 8 1-3 17, ACFrerichs 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 9-15 69
Potter-Dix (1-3): Gorsuch 2 0-0 5, BraKnigge 2 0-0 4, BryKnigge 5 1-2 13, Gasseling 1 0-0 2, LJohnson 3 0-0 6, Magninie 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 1-2 32
3-point field goals — Leyton 6 (Brenner 4, Schumacher 2); Potter-Dix 3 (BryKnigge 2, Gorsuch). Team fouls — Leyton 6, Potter-Dix 15.
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