Boys basketball: Letsos, Downers South come out sizzling in key WSC Gold win over Leyden

Downers Grove South junior guard Dimitri Letsos was on fire from 3-point range in the first half for the Mustangs Tuesday night against visiting Leyden.

As a matter of fact, so was the entire Mustangs team.

DGS was 6-of-9 from behind the arc in the first quarter and 11-for-22 at halftime, with Letsos sinking 7 of the long-range shots.

The Mustangs cooled off dramatically from 3 in the second half — they hit just 2 more after intermission and finished the game 13-of-33.

No problem for the home team, though, not when they had senior Adam Flowers cleaning up on the inside in the second half.

Flowers had 16 points the old-fashioned way, on six 2-point buckets and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

The senior scored 12 of those points in the first 3:50 of the third quarter as the Mustangs put the game on ice in a 89-75 West Suburban Gold victory.

DGS improved to 19-5, 6-0 in league play in a matchup between the top two teams in conference.

“To be honest, I wasn’t thinking at all, it just came naturally,” said Letsos of his stellar shooting night. He added that his eight 3s on the contest (he got one more in the second half) was the high-water mark in his prep career thus far. He finished with 26 points.

“I (actually) see myself as more of a distributor than a shooter,” said Letsos, who came off the bench to lead his team. “If they (his teammates) ever have trouble they can kick it out and then bang, that’s it.”

Letsos added that he knew Leyden was a “tough team” coming into the game.

“Me and my guys,” he said, “we just went through it, battled ahead.”

Leyden (18-6, 6-2) fought throughout the entire 32 minutes but couldn’t quite get over the hump.

“Great, hard fought game between two top teams,” said Eagles coach Tyler Gilliam. “They (DGS) just got it tonight, they were shooting the ball really well. They present a lot of problems with their height and athleticism, but our guys battled the whole way.”

Sophomore Robert Darling paced Leyden with 20 points.

“He had a great game,” said Gilliam of Darling. “He’s an awesome kid, he plays hard, a great defender and a super-high IQ, and he just moves really well on the court and does a lot of things for us offensively.”

DGS took a 49-41 lead into halftime, then extended the advantage to 63-46 in the third quarter behind the impressive effort of Flowers.

“He’s tough,” said Letsos of teammate Flowers. “I think he’s one of the best finishers in the state. It just comes so naturally for him, and he just makes it so much easier for everyone. When he does it, it pulls everyone in.”

Leyden was able to close within 10 midway through the fourth quarter on a layup from senior Ernesto Sanchez, but senior Sean Day of the Mustangs had 7 of his 17 points late to help close out the win.

Ernesto Sanchez and his brother, sophomore Kevin Sanchez, each scored 18 points for the Eagles. Gavin Garst and Linas Kasperiunas both added 9 points for DGS.

Letsos indicated that the scorching start to the season for the Mustangs has his team focused on the remainder of the season — and beyond.

"(The goal for us)," said Letsos, "is to get to state, and see how far we can go."