Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Leyton's Jaydin Gartner scores versus Minatare. The Warriors won in overtime to reach the Subdistrict finals.
Subdistrict D2-12 Tournament finals were set with Creek Valley's easy win over Potter-Dix, while Leyton needed two overtime periods to finally put away Minatare on Tuesday. Leyton's Warriors (5-14) were set to face the top-seeded Creek Valley Storm (10-10) on Thursday at the Cabela's Athletic Center at Sidney High School for the second time this season, hoping to avenge the 52-39 loss to the Storm at Dalton earlier this month.
Minatare (6-13) had already lost to Leyton earlier in the season, and took some lessons from the defeat to play a much closer game against the Warriors. The Warriors entered the tournament losers of four straight, their last victory being against Minatare. The first period started out tight, with both teams struggling to get off good shots while both defenses dominated the action. The Warriors effectively contained Minatare's sophomore standout Kaleb Gonzalez, but at a price since Leyton sophomore Drew Haley was called for three fouls in the first period alone. The end of the first had Minatare up 8-5, but more importantly Leyton had to sit Drew Haley out for the second quarter due to foul trouble, altering Leyton's strategy. Fortunately for the Warriors, Minatare had troubles of their own just hanging on to the ball, while Leyton senior Kort Dye harassed the Indians with 10 steals on the night. Just 11 points were scored in the second quarter between the teams, leading to a 14-10 halftime lead by Minatare.
The third quarter saw the Warriors break out offensively, scoring 13 points against the Indian's four. Leyton senior Jaydin Gartner broke out of his scoring slump, putting up seven points in the quarter on his way to scoring 19 on the night, all in the second half. Minatare's offense went completely cold in the third, only scoring four points in the last minute of the stanza, forcing the Indians to play from behind going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the teams battle for points, with the Indians slowly gaining on the Warriors. Minatare's Gonzalez and freshman Quinton Hassell each had six points in the quarter, and as time expired in regulation, the game was knotted at 34. The first overtime period had both teams scoring, and in the final moments Minatare was able to pull ahead of the Warriors, but Leyton's Jaydin Gartner banked in a jump shot with five seconds left in the period to tie the game again and send it to another overtime period with the score tied at 39.
The second overtime period quickly turned bad for Minatare, as both their leading scoring threats Kaleb Gonzalez and Quinton Hassell both fouled out in the opening minutes of the period. Leyton was able to take control of the game, with senior Kort Dye making four straight free throws in the final moments of the game to put the Warriors ahead for good, ending the game with a final score 49-44. Leyton's Jaydin Gartner led all scores with 19 points, while Kort Dye had 15 points, 10 steals and seven rebounds in an outstanding effort.
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