Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Potter-Dix guard Bryant Knigge buries one of his seven 3-pointers against Creek Valley Saturday.
Leyton center Brennen Cruise battles with Minatare’s JaVan Perez Saturday night.
After losing its first game of the season two weeks back against Bridgeport, Leyton High School boys basketball coach Gary Oltmann was wondering how his team would respond.
Turns out, the Warriors bounced back fairly well.
Placing three scorers in double figures, led by Brennen Cruise’s game-high 24 points, LHS rolled to its 10th win in 11 tries by blasting Minatare 64-33 in Saturday night’s Minuteman Activities Conference tournament title game at Sidney Middle School.
The Warriors successfully defended their title in rather easy fashion. After earning a first-round bye, Leyton smacked Potter-Dix by 25 points in Thursday’s semifinals, then completely smothered the Indians in the championship game.
“We set several goals this season, and one of them was repeating as MAC champions,” Oltmann said. “The ultimate goal is to get to the state tournament in Lincoln, but there are others. I was kind of wondering how we would come back after getting that first loss. But at least the bull’s-eye is off our backs.”
Minatare (9-2) had no answer in stopping Cruise, the Warriors’ burly junior pivot. Cruise outscored the Indians by himself in the first half, with 20 points as Leyton owned a whopping 37-16 advantage at intermission.
“Brennen also had eight rebounds,” Oltmann said. “He just flat dominated. We were able to get some things done in this tournament, like getting good movement in the half-court sets, and we were able to get out in transition and score, too.”
Defensively, the Warriors shut down Minatare’s 3-point shooting that had carried it through the tournament. Leyton’s Dylan Brenner went one-on-one with sophomore Javier Guerrero, holding him to just four points.
“We didn’t want Guerrero beating us, so we put Dylan on him man-to-man,” Oltmann said.
Minatare hit just two treys in the contest, and was led in scoring by Yavan Perez’s 10 points.
Brenner and Sam Schumacher also had 10 points for Leyton.
Third-place game
Potter-Dix 62,
Creek Valley 49
Bryant Knigge was white-hot, knocking down seven 3-pointers and scoring 27 points as the Coyotes (4-7) doubled their win total in the tournament.
P-D scored 14 unanswered points late in the third period. Bryant Knigge hit two 3-pointers from the left corner and Tyler Magninie did the same, helping the Coyotes to a 48-37 lead at the third stop.
Magninie added eight points for the Coyotes, while Colin Brott led four Storm players in double digits. Sam Behrends added 11 points and Luke Cavalli and Newt Hummermeier both had 10.
MAC boys tournament
Championship
Leyton 64, Minatare 33
Minatare 5 11 13 4—33
Leyton 15 22 15 12—64
MINATARE (9-2)
Juarez 1 0-0 2, Garfio 1 0-0 2, Perez 4 1-2 10, Guerrero 1 2-2 4, McAllister 0 0-3 0, Martinez 1 0-2 3, Golden 1 1-4 3, Longoria 4 1-5 9. Totals 13 5-18 33
LEYTON (10-1)
AWFrerichs 2 0-0 4, Melzer 2 0-0 4, Reimers 0 0-1 0, Schumacher 3 3-6 10, Brenner 4 2-4 10, Cruise 12 0-0 24, Rushman 1 0-0 2, McKay 2 2-2 6, ACFrerichs 2 0-0 4, Blanke 0 0-2 0, Bellmyer 0 0-2 0. Totals 28 7-17 64
3-point goals — Minatare 2 (Perez, Martinez), Leyton (Schumacher). Team fouls — Minatare 14, Leyton 14.
Third-place game
Potter-Dix 62, Creek Valley 49
Creek 12 14 11 12—49
P-D 14 15 19 14—62
CREEK VALLEY (5-8)
Brott 5 0-1 12, Hummermeier 4 2-2 10, McConnell 2 0-0 4, SBehrends 4 0-0 11, Simmons 0 2-2 2, Cavalli 4 1-2 10. Totals 19 5-7 49
POTTER-DIX (4-7)
BraKnigge 3 0-0 6, BryKnigge 10 0-0 27, JJohnson 4 0-0 8, LJohnson 3 0-0 6, Magninie 3 0-0 8, Hicks 1 0-0 2, Hinrichs 1 0-0 2, Harms 0 1-2 1, Christensen 0 2-2 2. Totals 25 3-4 62
3-point goals — Creek 6 (SBehrends 3, Brott 2, Cavalli), P-D 9 (BryKnigge 7, Magninie 2). Team fouls — Creek 19, P-D 8.
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