Leyton plays waiting game to waylay Indians, earn trip to finals

The Warriors began preparing for next week's district finals encounter with Cody-Kilgore moments after the buzzer confirmed their 52-39 win over Minatare on Thursday night, closing out sub-district play.

"We practice tomorrow," Alex W. Frerichs said when asked how long he could savor the D2-11 title.

Reaching the finals for the third year in a row was not as simple as the score might indicate, however. Leyton led by as much as 15 in the third period, but the Indians began punching back.

Over a 12 minute stretch, from late in the third until the game's final 30 seconds, Minatare outpaced the Warriors 18-11, will all of Leyton's points coming at the line.

"We were trying to maintain the lead," Cody McKay explained. "We didn't want to lose it like last time."

At the end of January, Leyton lost to the Indians 61-54 after watching a halftime lead slip away. This time around, the Warriors jumped on top 29-14 behind the sharp shooting of McKay and his 14 first half points, then switched to a ball control offense after the break.

In the third period Leyton wiped 3:15 off the clock between a free throw by Minatare's Dominic Longoria and the Indians' next points, coming from Javier Guerrero. During a critical stretch in the fourth, the Warriors dallied for 3:20 between scores by Minatare.

"For the most part we did a good job," Dylan Brenner said of the clock management game. "But we could have controlled it better."

With time running out, Leyton coaxed another 1:28 from the board, which ended when Guerrero sank a three.

That shot made it a 43-37 stomach wrencher. But Leyton had things under control.

"We stayed calm and let defense win," Frerich explained.

That calm was critical in the waning moments. With Minatare forced to foul, Brenner and McKay each hit a pair from the line. As the clock ticked closer to the 30 second mark, Frerichs and Brennen Cruise teamed up to seal the win.

Minatare's Tyler Koke had just hit the second of two free throw attempts. The defense began to press when Cruise reached back and hurled the ball down court, where Frerichs waited all alone.

"I saw him waving," Cruise said. "I just threw it to him."

During the free throw attempts Frerichs had consulted with head coach Gary Oltmann on the plan for the final half minute.

"I was talking to the coaches and they didn't see me," he explained. "They forgot about me."

The wide open layup ended a 11:59 Leyton dry spell from the floor. It was also part of a 9-2 Warriors run to secure the outcome and send the team on to the district finals and another shot at state.

"It's exciting," Cruise said. "I want to get back."

Leyton will face Cody-Kilgore on Tuesday at Hay Springs. The D2-12 champions are an unknown to the Warriors.

"We don't know anything about them, but we'll play them like all the others," Brenner said.

And so the Warriors began almost immediately considering their upcoming challenge.

"We don't celebrate, we start getting ready for the next game," coach Oltmann pointed out. "The one we want to win is the next game."

Linescore

Minatare 9 5 10 15 - 39

Leyton 19 10 8 15 - 52

Scoring

Cody McKay 18

Dylan Brenner 15

Brennen Cruise 13

Alex W. Frerichs 6