Indians stretch streak to 3 games against Deerfield

Putting up a basket between two Deerfield defenders is Leoti sophomore Jantz Budde.

By Rod Haxton, editor

The Wichita County High School boys aren’t going to be an offensive juggernaut this season.

Then again, if they can continue playing defense like they have the last two games, they won’t have to be.

Leoti pressure defense held Deerfield to just 18 points through the first three quarters on their way to a 43-36 non-league win on Saturday. That came one day after a 43-23 win at Satanta in Hi Plains League action.

“We’re not a team that’s going to score a ton of points, so we spend a majority of our practice time working on defense,” says head coach Nate Schmitt.

Playing their first home game of the season, a fired up Indians squad held Deerfield to a single field goal for nearly 14-1/2 minutes to start the game. The Spartans didn’t score their first - and only - field goal of the opening period until the 3;22 mark, which cut the WCHS lead to 6-3. Leoti followed with a 12-0 scoring run during the next seven minutes to open up an 18-3 advantage.

Senior guard Johny Martinez drilled a pair of treys and Neil Fletcher added the other six points.

WCHS (3-1, 2-0), which extended its win streak to three games, led by 16 points, 27-11, following Jantz Budde’s driving layin late in the third period. Leoti never led by less than seven points the rest of the night - 27-20 early in the fourth quarter and again at the end of the game.

The Spartans put together one final scoring threat when they cut the lead to 37-27 with 3:29 remaining. Budde connected on a trey and a pair of free throws while Martinez added another free throw to rebuild the cushion to 43-27.

J. Martinez, who is 7-of-14 from beyond the three-point line in the last two games, has given the Indians a needed perimeter threat.

“When he’s shooting like that it really opens things up,” says Schmitt.

However, the offense still rests on the shoulders of senior guard Gabe Martinez who led the team with six assists and five steals.

“Gabe has the ability to create opportunities for everyone else. When he penetrates he can kick the ball back out to someone to knock down shots on the perimeter. That makes so many other good things happen on this team,” says the head coach. “That’s why you see Jantz (Budde) and Neil (Fletcher) come through with the kind of performances we saw tonight.”

Both players finished with double-doubles - Budde with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Fletcher added 12 points and 11 boards.

Schmitt feels that if he can get 10-12 points a night from J. Martinez, G. Martinez, Budde and Fletcher “we’re going to be a pretty competitive team.”

That’s not to say there aren’t some concerns. As well as the team plays defensively, Schmitt has yet to see the intensity continue for an entire quarter.

Deerfield outscored Leoti 19-2 in the final 2-1/2 minutes of the second, third and fourth quarters.

“We play hard for a majority of the time, but then we seem to relax at the end of each quarter,” he says. “That’s what allowed Deerfield to stay in the game with us. It’s something we have to fix.”

Schmitt expressed his appreciation to an enthusiastic crowd which was celebrating a “1990s Retro Night” in celebration of the boy’s basketball team’s 1990 state championship.

“The crowd was great tonight. They were really into the game and our boys fed off that,” says the head coach.