Barrett's 28 leads Peetz to road win over Leyton

Opposing defenses are having an awfully difficult time slowing down Peetz guard Casey Barrett these days.

He dropped 24 points in the Bulldogs' season opening win against Community Christian and 19 against a powerful Caliche squad. He improved his act on Tuesday night against Leyton, pouring in 28 points to lead Peetz (2-1) to a 66-53 road win over the Warriors.

Leyton fell to 0-3.

"They (Leyton) went to a zone in the second quarter," Barrett said. "So I just floated in that corner, key area and just drove when I could. Some of their (Leyton's) guys got in foul trouble, the guy that was guarding me (Leyton's Cody McKay) and he's a good defender. So I just took advantage of that."

The two teams looked a bit discombobulated to open the game. Neither team had an easy time setting up its offense and active hands defensively – especially for Peetz – created many unnecessary turnovers. Overall, Peetz played the cleaner first quarter and thusly, led 14-8 after the opening eight minutes.

The second quarter was a period that seemed to combine the Peetz offense at its best with the Leyton offense at or near its worst. The Warriors' star senior forward Cody McKay got himself into foul trouble early in the half – mostly due to having to guard Barrett – and Leyton head coach Gary Oltmann was forced to sit him until halftime.

"I had three fouls early in the game and that was disappointing," McKay said. "That hurt the team since I was out for most of the first half."

In McKay's absence, Leyton's struggles to run a set offense and take care of the ball continued and even intensified. Without their go-to player, the Warriors battled just to get a quality shot off. More often than not, they took the quickest shot they could, leaving an infuriated Oltmann on the bench. He was disgusted with his team's efforts on almost every front, especially with what seemed like countless fundamental mistakes.

Peetz fueled its transition offense off of the Leyton turnovers and got several easy baskets. It accompanied a strong fast break with some hot outside shooting from Barrett and forward Garret Roelle. With a 21-point second quarter outburst, the Bulldogs led, 35-17 at the half.

"We didn't hustle in the first half," Oltmann said. "If there was a 50-50 ball, they (Peetz) got every one of them. We plain stood around and did not hustle. We need to work on our patience and running some things and not just throw it up. We need to get a good team effort."

Conversely, Peetz head coach Jim Gardiner was quite pleased with his team's offensive showcase in the first half and throughout the game.

"This (Leyton High) is a tough place to play, but we shot the ball well early," Gardiner said. "We had a big halftime lead, but I knew that with Gary coaching, they (the Leyton players) wouldn't fold."

McKay returned to start the second half and almost immediately, Leyton's level play improved dramatically. The Warriors were able to impose their will in the post and McKay fought his way to a few big baskets that got Leyton back on track. But Barrett seemed to counter every McKay score with one of his own. McKay finally started to get some help, as sophomore guard Drew Brenner shot his way to a 10-point quarter. Even with those hot streaks, the Warriors still trailed, 49-35 after three.

In the fourth, McKay continued to produce but began to find himself fighting solo, as Brenner and the rest of the Warriors cooled off following their third quarter run. Meanwhile, turnovers began to haunt Leyton once again after a relatively clean third quarter.

Peetz continued to take excellent care of the ball, only committing one turnover in the second half and nine for the game. That combined with Barrett's hot shooting throughout the 32 minutes, as well as senior guard Bradey Holtz' fourth-quarter spurt, was just too much for the Warriors to overcome.

McKay finished with 16 points and four boards to lead Leyton in the loss. Brenner added 14 points, going 2-for-5 from downtown. In addition to Barrett's 28, Holtz added 14 points of his own, mostly taking advantage of Leyton turnovers in transition. Roelle also contributed 10 points for Peetz.

The Warriors will seek their first win of the season when they host South Platte, Friday at 8 p.m. Peetz will aim for a 3-1 start when it plays Pawnee on the road at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.