Leyden's start, finish stop Fenton

How Leyden started and finished led to a deceptive 60-41 nonconference boys basketball victory over visiting Fenton on Tuesday night.

The Eagles didn't break away as easily as it appeared they would in scoring the first 11 points en route to a 15-2 lead. They definitely didn't improve to 9-10 as easily as it looked considering they had to rally from a 30-24 deficit late in the third quarter.

"We started to play with a sense of urgency and we were able to pick up the pace," Leyden senior guard Mike Woolf said after scoring 18 of his game-high 26 points in the final 9:45.

"We were playing good defense to start off the game but we got away from rebounding," said Leyden junior Brandon Stinson, who had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. "Once we got back to that the game turned back our way."

Daniel Montano (12 points, 8 rebounds) had a layup and 2 assists and Emeka Umeadi (9 points) scored twice in a 12-0 run by Fenton (8-12). But they went to the bench with 3 fouls each with 2:15 left in the third and Leyden went on a 12-0 tear.

"I was really disappointed - we couldn't play a little bit better and hold our own the last two minutes," said Fenton coach Dennis Cromer. "We lost all our momentum. Then we couldn't regenerate the same momentum we had to start the third quarter."

Stinson's fourth assist in the first 31/2 minutes of the fourth quarter to Eric Palmer (14 points, 10 rebounds) capped a 10-point run and put Leyden up 46-34.

"With this team you never know what you're going to get," said Leyden coach Bill Heisler. "We have the ability to be a very good team but we're still searching for consistency."