Leyton Boys Drop Two Contests

Leyton's Warrior boys basketball team traveled Saturday to take on the Hemingford Bobcats in a non-conference matchup.

The Bobcat's full court trap defense proved too much for the Leyton boys, while the Bobcat's offense piled up the points, cruising to a lopsided 91-to-49 victory.

"Hemingford runs a platoon type of system, and it kept the team fresh the whole game. Their full-court trapping defense forced us to play too fast and caused a lot of turnovers," Leyton head coach Cody Gamble commented after the loss.

Leyton did have a solid third quarter, dealing with the Hemingford defense more effectively and putting up their best quarter score of the season.

"We had a great third quarter and scored several times out of the press break. It was our best quarter of the season in my opinion. We did get outscored 23-to-27, but never quit. I started to see our young guys start handling the pressure defense a little better," Gamble said.

Leyton hosted the Arthur County Wolves on Tuesday, a game which was more competitive but ended in a loss for the Warriors.

After a slow start to the scoring, highlighted by lots of pushing and foul calls, the teams were tied at five about halfway through the period.

"We matched up fairly well (with Arthur County). I was figuring that they would have manned us up on defense, but they zoned. I probably would zone us also as bad as we shot the ball," Gamble noted.

The Warriors fell behind in the latter part of the first period, with the Wolves playing fast and physical, while connecting with their shots.

The first period ended with Arthur County up 14-to-7, and they continued to increase their lead in the half.

Gamble talked about the foul trouble the team ran into early, saying, "We had some early foul trouble for Zak Henke and Dom Russ which hampers us as they are our main scorers. I had to sit Dom the entire second quarter."

Leyton narrowed the Arthur lead in the second half, battling back to get within five points. But the Warriors committed three turnovers in a row which resulted in easy scores for Arthur, resulting in a 10-to-2 run that Leyton couldn't overcome.

Arthur County took the victory with a 56-to-43 final score.

Gamble said he was pleased with the effort and his teams' development.

"The boys are getting older with every practice and game we play. I really like the progress I'm seeing from the team," he said.