Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Warriors will do battle with Minatare for D2-11 crown
Leyton High's Jared Westman is fouled during Tuesday night's 60-45 victory over Garden County. The Warriors meet Minatare on Thursday in the title game.
Cody McKay goes up for two of his game-high 19 points on Tuesday night.
As the Leyton Warriors' Cody McKay, Zach Hellie and Kenny Ernest ruled the inside throughout much of the game, it started out as though the team from Dalton was in for an easy stroll through the Cabela's Athletic Facility in Sidney on Tuesday night.
But then the Garden County shooters showed up.
Despite some timely 3-pointers and periods of hot shooting, however, the No. 3 Garden County Eagles (7-10) couldn't keep up with the depth of second-seeded Leyton (12-9), which dominated the final quarter to win 60-45 in a D2-11 semifinal game in Sidney.
In the other semifinal contest, the top seeded Minatare Indians (19-2) continued their outstanding season with a 63-47 win over the Banner County Wildcats (6-14). The Indians and Warriors will meet on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. for the subdistrict final at the Cabela's Athletic Facility.
McKay opened the contest by completing a three-point play 26 seconds in and Drew Brenner matched him 19 seconds later for a quick 6-0 lead. McKay went on to score 11 points in a first quarter in which the Warriors stepped out to a 23-11 lead.
But it was the second quarter when Leyton head coach Gary Oltman began pacing the sidelines with added vigor. Mason Zorn hit from beyond the arc to propel the Eagles soaring on a 6-0 run. Late in the period when Zorn followed Dominic Koppman's three ball with another of his own, Garden County was within three at 31-28. Ernest returned an offensive rebound through the hole at the buzzer to add a little breathing room at halftime.
"We're so young in spots and we played some sophomore basketball tonight," Oltman said. "But our guys hit some three's too and we stepped it up in the fourth quarter."
Perhaps the biggest three ball sent up by the Warriors came off the finger tips of James Rushman who nailed one from the left side. The Eagles had just shaved the Leyton lead to a single point at 33-32, when Rushman shook the halftime dust from the twine. The Rushman three kept the Dalton gang on the right side of the score despite Garden County's continued resilience. The Eagles trailed by just four after the third at 45-41.
"Mainly they just shot really well and maybe we slowed down a little after getting a pretty good lead in the first quarter," said Ernest. "We played much better in the first and fourth quarters mostly because we waited longer to get the easier shots."
Ernest contributed four points early in the final quarter as the Warriors began to bring the Eagles down off their perch. Letyon outscored Garden County 15-4 over the final eight minutes to advance to the final.
McKay finished the game on top of the scoresheet for Leyton with 19 points while Hellie, Brenner and Ernest added 14, 10 and eight points respectively. McKay topped the Warriors' rebounders with nine with Hellie and Rushman each grabbing five. Brenner had six assists and four steals to lead Leyton.
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