Upset special: Bridgeport hands LHS boys first loss

DALTON — Typically, when the Leyton High School boys’ basketball team gets in a pinch, it can turn to a guy like Sam Schumacher.

Bridgeport’s Jamie Gonzalez made sure that didn’t happen Tuesday night, in more ways than one, while leading the visiting Bulldogs to a 46-41 upset of the previously unbeaten Warriors.

Gonzalez completely took over the game for the Bulldogs, scoring a game-high 19 points and holding Schumacher in check to the tune of just six points.

To boot, Chris Melzer fouled out and didn’t score, and center Brennan Cruise was held in check late after drawing his fourth personal foul.

The two teams had met in the season opener at the Bayard Thanksgiving Tournament, with Leyton prevailing 52-39. That would not be the case the second time around.

Dylan Brenner, who led Leyton in scoring with 17 points, gave the Warriors (8-1) a 13-5 lead early in the second period with a layup, but the Bulldogs (8-2) scored nine unanswered points, thanks to five points and an assist by reserve Quentin Baxter, to take a brief 14-13 lead.

Leyton’s A.W. Frerichs gave the Warriors the lead back just before halftime, 16-14, with a 3-point basket.

By that time, Bridgeport and head coach Nick Broz had all the confidence in the world.

“We got things going in the right direction late in the second quarter,” Broz said, “and it carried over through the second half.”

And that second half belonged to Gonzalez, a 6-foot-1 junior. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Gonzalez gave the Bulldogs a 24-20 edge with 3:16 remaining in the third quarter. However, Brenner kept his team in the game, and his basket and subsequent assist to Cruise on a strong-side cut produced a 29-26 Leyton lead at the third break.

Brenner made one of two free throws with 6:49 remaining, making it 30-28 Warriors, but the Gonzalez responded with three straight baskets, as Bridgeport took the lead. Gonzalez hit a layup, a short pull-up jumper and then rebounded his own wild shot, and the Bulldogs led 34-30 with 5:05 left.

“We let Gonzalez kid take over, and by the time we adjusted and got help, it was too late,” LHS coach Gary Oltmann said. “We had Brenner out on an island there against him.”

Leyton managed one last lead, that being 39-38 on two Brenner free throws at 2:04, but Bridgeport took the lead for good on a Wyatt Pankowski basket, and after Leyton came up empty twice, Baxter nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner off an inbounds play, making it 43-39 with 35.5 seconds left.

“We told the guys, ‘Don’t let him set up in the corner on that out-of-bounds play’, but what did we do?” Oltmann quizzed. “We let him set up and hit the shot. I don’t know if we were all here mentally tonight.”

Bridgeport made its foul shots down the stretch to hold sway.

Baxter and Pankowski both had 10 points for Bridgeport, while Cruise added 10 points to the Leyton effort.

Oltmann said that Schumacher and Melzer’s lack of production hurt the Warriors.

“We can’t have Sam scoring six points, and Chris didn’t score,” Oltmann said. “We normally get 23 points on average from them, but got six tonight.”

Broz praised Gonzalez’s play.

“I think he’s one of the best players in the region,” Broz said, “He has ability to finish, and he consistently shuts down the best player on the other team.”

Leyton hosts Potter-Dix Friday evening.

Bridgeport 46, Leyton 41

Bport 5 9 12 20—46

Leyton 9 7 13 12—41

Bridgeport (8-2): Gonzalez 8 1-4 19, Baxter 4 0-0 10, Pankowski 5 0-2 10, Franklin 2 0-2 4, Amatels 0 3-4 3. Totals 19 4-12 46

Leyton (8-1); Brenner 6 3-5 17, Cruise 4 2-2 10, AWFrerichs 3 0-0 8, Schumacher 3 0-0 6, Melzer 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-7 41

3-point goals — Bridgeport 4 (Baxter 2, Gonzalez 2), Leyton 4 (AWFrerichs 2, Brenner 2). Team fouls — Bridgeport 7, Leyton 15. Fouled out — Melzer.