LHS Warriors’ display of heart shines through

It was a time to grip the short bottoms.

The uniforms were drenched.

The legs were getting heavy from playing a two hour-plus game.

And everything showing on the Sutherland gymnasium scoreboard was hardly in its favor.

Even so, the Leyton High School boys’ basketball team is heading back to the state tournament.

The long drive back to Cheyenne County Tuesday night had me drawing comparisons with what I had just witnessed: Gary Oltmann’s team refusing to lose in taking a 74-68 triple-overtime thriller away from Sandhills/Thedford in the D2-6 District finals.

Sorry, but I don’t fall into the crowd that feels neither team should have lost. That’s why scoreboards are put on a wall, and brackets are created.

Tuesday’s game wasn’t a thing of perfection, by any means.

For starters, Sandhills/Thedford missed two wide-open transition layups that cost the Knights four easy points in regulation, and Leyton shot just a shade more than 34 percent from the field.

And that list could go on.

However, what the contest lacked in flawlessness, flowed freely with breathtaking drama.

It started early when S/T swingman Matthew McLeod clutched his fists after taking Warriors senior Sam Schumacher into the paint for a basket and a 25-16 Knights lead midway through the second period.

No question, momentum was on S/T’s side at the time, and in fact, the Knights probably would have rather stayed on the floor after settling for a 27-22 halftime lead.

Schumacher redeemed himself by rallying his Warriors teammates in the second half. However, the Warriors needed contributions from everyone on the floor, who used two reserves to just Cody McKay for LHS.

How Leyton hung in the game has been documented, but looking back at the statistics, it was amazing to see that Schumacher didn’t put up a shot nor grab a rebound in the first overtime. In fact, the Warriors’ leading scorer put up just one shot in each of the second and third extra sessions.

And Oltmann likes it that way. He doesn’t typically use his top player as a decoy, it’s just that the coach has enough confidence in the players around him, that everyone can be an option inside any offensive set.

Oltmann’s respect for the other players was the reason Leyton won this game.

Had the Warriors panicked and tried to put everything in Schumacher’s hands, they’d likely be dealing with another fate today.

But that isn’t how the Warriors roll, as Dylan Brenner and A.W. Frerichs hit the big buzzer-beating shots to force the second and third overtimes, respectively.

It was then that Schumacher sank all of his free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt, giving his team a lead it hadn’t seen in quite some time.

And his teammates wouldn’t allow S/T to pry that advantage from their hands.

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Center Brennen Cruise stayed on the floor for a total of 15 minutes and 17 seconds — that’s a shade below a full half of regulation — after drawing his fourth personal foul, and emerged thumbs-up twice on block-charge calls.

Still, Cruise hung in around the basket, played smartly, and was able to give S/T’s bigs some food for thought in the lane.

Which all comes down to realizing how scrappy this team truly is.

In winning Tuesday, the Wartriors outhustled and displayed more heart than a Sandhills Thedford team that had more height, along with just as much quickness and talent.

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This will probably ignite a few arguments ... I don’t give a hoot about summer camps and what-not, but this Leyton team can certainly hit the hardwood with anyone I’ve seen this year, and that includes the Class B clubs.

I’m not saying the Warriors can knock off the likes of Sidney, Scottsbluff, McCook, Alliance and Gering — remember, Leyton’s lone loss came at home to Bridgeport — but for entertainment purposes only, I wouldn’t lay 15 to 20 points against them, either.

Because that’s what this team does; it scraps.

At next weekend’s Elite Eight in Lincoln, Leyton will continue to dance with what has carried it so far: a four-guard lineup and a 6-1 center.

That, and a ton of heart.

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Oltmann caught some immediate heat from a few Knight fans Tuesday night for not shaking the S/T coaching staff’s hands after the game.

The Leyton coach realized his mistake in the excitement of the moment, and was adamant in saying he would make amends for it.

This comes from covering almost three decades of prep basketball: There are a few in this business that come up short in terms of character.

However, Gary Oltmann isn’t one of them. He caught the shortcoming, and is doing the right thing.

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I posted this on our Facebook page, late Tuesday, but Tuesday’s game ranks right up there in terms of excitement.

The one game that probably rivals it is the 1990 Illinois boys Class A state title game between Wesclin and Prairie Central that went double-overtime before 17,000 on a Saturday night at the University of Illinois’ Assembly Hall.

Wesclin won 83-78, but the end of regulation and the overtimes had the fans gasping with darned-near every play. Oxygen came and went from that building until well past 10 p.m.

Ironically, Wesclin and Leyton share the same mascot name: the Warriors.

Earlier, during that afternoon’s semifinals, Prairie Central had won at the buzzer against Norris City-Omaha-Enfield, the team I was assigned to cover.

The Cardinals bounced back and won the third-place game, and on the way out after the championship game, I ran into NCOE coach Dave Gray.

He simply shook his head and said. “I know my team wanted to play in the championship game, but there’s no way we could have matched the intensity those two teams put forth.”

That’s pretty much the way I felt about Tuesday’s game at Sutherland.

A lot of teams would have liked to have traded spots with Leyton and Sandhills/Thedford.

Chances are, though, we probably wouldn’t have been talking about the same game, and hats off to both teams for playing one for the ages.