Wrap: Eagles, Warriors come up short

Damian Sieradzki barely made it halfway to his Fenton-leading scoring average in a Friday night loss to Ridgewood.

"I came out cold and never got out of my funk," said Sieradzki, who averages 19 points a game. "I'll have two or three off games, and I'd say Friday was one of those off games.

"I don't plan on having any more of those."

The 6-foot-4 senior put his plan into full effect in Tuesday night's nonconference boys basketball game at Leyden. Sieradzki poured in a game-high 36 points as Fenton (10-11) pulled out a 73-66 victory at Farina Field House in Franklin Park.

"He can flat out play," said first-year Leyden coach Bill Heisler.

"I'm happy for him because he bounced back," said Fenton coach Dennis Cromer. "He hasn't had too many rough games."

Sieradzki hit all four of his 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the final 8:15 of the first half. He finished 14 of 23 from the field, had 10 of the Bison's 36-29 rebound advantage and blocked 4 shots.

"Usually how I do in warmups is how I feel in the game," Sieradzki said after coming 5 points shy of his career high set two weeks ago against Riverside-Brookfield. "Today I didn't have that good of a warmup, but I adjusted to that.

"My teammates set screens to get me open, and I took shots that started falling."

Another key was Sieradzki's work at the other end on Leyden junior Deron Guyton. Although Guyton didn't start for disciplinary reasons, he finished with career highs of 32 points and six 3-pointers.

"He came off the bench and played his butt off," Heisler said.

Guyton hit 5 straight shots and three 3s in a 13-point third quarter to push Leyden (4-15) to a 50-47 lead. But he missed his next 7 shots and went scoreless for 8½ minutes until he hit 2 free throws with 2:10 left.

"I've never really played against a good scorer like him," said Sieradzki, whose three-point play off a rebound put Fenton up 60-55 with 3:50 left. "I felt like I 'D'd' him up pretty good."

Fenton also got 12 points from Gozie Umeadi, 8 points from Billy Gratzl, 7 points and 10 rebounds from Justin Southward in his first start and 7 points from Darek Potuszynski.

Alex Regalado added a career-high 20 points for Leyden, which got within 4 points four times the last 3:40.

"Offensively, I thought we played pretty well," Heisler said. "It's a matter of down the stretch making plays."

Bartlett 76, Maine W. 65: Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith has said time and time again that his team has depth.

And that rang true once again as the Hawks' top three scorers on the night netted 57 points in a 76-65 nonconference win over Maine West.

"It's a theme that I've repeated so many times," Wolfsmith said. "We have so many offensive threats that teams have to choose who to stop."

With 17 second-half points and three 3-pointers, Cory Hrynyk led the way with 24 points while Marc Little added 18 points and Luke Labedzki 15 for the Hawks (15-6).

"It's great having a balance on the perimeter," Hrynyk said. "It's a good team effort. That's what makes this team so special."

After a slow start to the game, with the Hawks clinging to a 32-28 lead at the break, Hrynyk opened up a 10-2 run in the third quarter after nailing a 3-pointer.

The Hawks went on to score 24 points in the quarter to take a 56-46 lead over the Warriors (4-18).

Little kept the momentum going with a steal for a layup followed by another basket and 5 points for Hrynyk to start the fourth.

"Marc Little in the middle of the field is a dangerous creature," Wolfsmith said. "He did a nice job driving to the hole and also getting the ball to our outside guys."

The Hawks went on to take the largest lead of the game minutes later after baskets by Marcell Randell and Kamil Janton for a 72-50 lead.

The Hawks finished the game shooting over 60 percent, but it took the strong 48-point second half to win the game after a slow start led to an early 12-9 deficit after one quarter of play.

After falling to a 5-0 deficit to begin the game, the Warriors went on a 10-2 run keyed by 6 points from Jimmy Orlowski.

The Warriors also made a run near the end as Tommy Solis netted 6 of his team-leading 21 points in the final four minutes. Orlowski finished with 17 points.

-- Seth Hancock