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For the Warriors, three times will have to be the charm if they are to capture the 2014 MAC Tournament title Saturday night.
After a sluggish beginning the Warriors (9-3) earned passage to the MAC finals with a 53-36 semi-final win over the Garden County Eagles (5-6) at Sidney Middle School on Thursday night.
"It looked to me at times like we were playing in sand," said Warriors Head Coach Gary Oltmann. "But we got our job done on defense."
After fighting through the first quarter to a 12-12 draw, the Warriors opened the second quarter by jumping off the sand onto the boardwalk. Leyton doubled their first-quarter output before the Eagles could manage so much as a point. In just over three minutes, a pair of buckets by Alex W. Frerichs, a free throw by Dylan Brenner and 7 points from Brennen Cruise accounted for the 12-0 run.
"We've had the tendency lately to get off to slow starts," said Seth Schuessler. "We're going to have to pick up the intensity early in the game if we expect to win the tournament."
The long drought finally ended for the Eagles when they responded with a pair of threes by Ryan Smith and Anselmo Cano to make it a 24-18 affair. But Brenner ended the half with a duece to give his side a 30-22 advantage heading into the break.
"We expected Garden County to give us a good game," said Brenner. "They hustle all game and they scored right with us every step of the first quarter. They're a good ball club."
Despite the Eagles tenacity, the 12-0 run opening the second quarter put them in the rear-view mirror the rest of the game. While Leyton did not add to their lead in the third frame, the give-and-take exchange worked in the Warriors favor. Brenner popped in Leyton's first 5 points of the second half to keep Garden County in catch-up mode.
With the eight-point halftime lead carrying over to the final period, the Warriors put the hammer down. Two baskets from Brenner, two from Cruise and another from Frerichs erased any real expectations Garden County had for a comeback.
"We were kind of lazy on defense to start and slow on offense," said Frerichs. "We're going to have to try and do what we did last time against Potter-Dix and play a full four quarters."
Brenner, Cruise and Frerichs all finished in double figures to lead the Warriors in Scoring. Brenner had 18, Cruise 16 and Frerichs 12.
In the first game on Thursday's four-game docket, the Coyotes turned back the previously unbeaten Minatare Indians 61-53. So far this season Leyton has had little trouble with Potter-Dix. On Jan. 17, the Warriors won a lopsided affair 63-40 and on Dec. 17 the score was 47-34.
The Coyotes (3-0), meanwhile, haven't lost since the last time they met the Warriors.
Saturday night's final will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Sidney Middle School. The third-place game between Minatare and Garden County will commence at 3 p.m. on the same floor.
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