CONVERSE - When Manchester basketball coach Gary Goshert wants to get his players' attention on the floor, he lets out a shrill whistle, like Chicago coach Phil Jackson does.

Everyone in the gym, fans included, hears it. It's a wonderful tool. When players hear it, heads snap over and look in his direction. Goshert has a message, and his players get it.

Now, if he could only find a way that easy to get his players to play the kind of defense he's looking for.

Oak Hill shot 63 percent from the field (25 of 40) and led the Squires from start to finish in a 67-62 win Friday night.

Sixty-three percent won't cut it, and Goshert knows that. Most coaches want to keep the other team in the low 40s or even lower.

"We had trouble getting to them and stopping them," Goshert said. "We didn't have very many defensive stops.

"We just somehow gotta figure a way to defend people."

If defense was the number one thing on Goshert's mind when he spoke after the game, the infamous "little things" were number two. Those are the things that make the difference between winning and losing close ballgames.

Statistically, the Squires were even or better in two important categories. They had 15 turnovers to Oak Hill's 20. Rebounding was a wash - Oak Hill had 29 rebounds, and Manchester had 28. The Squires outrebounded the Golden Eagles 12-7 on the offensive boards.

So why did they lose? Sixty-three percent shooting and the little things.

Oak Hill's six turnovers in the fourth quarter helped the Squires get back in the game. The Golden Eagles led 43-29 early in the third quarter, but the Squires outscored Oak Hill 26-15 late in the third and early in the fourth.

Thanks to two straight Oak Hill turnovers, Manchester cut Oak Hill's lead from 58-51 to 58-55 with 3:42 left in the game.

"I thought the effort was really good the last six minutes of the third quarter," Goshert said. "That and into the fourth quarter was very good stuff."

Then those little things showed up. Two of 'em.

Oak Hill guard Ben Dalrymple was left alone for an uncontested layup with 1:44 left. Oak Hill led 62-57.

Dalrymple went to the free throw line with 1:17 left. He made the first, missed the second. The Squires didn't get the rebound. Six-foot-seven forward Jarrad Odle grabbed the most important of Oak Hill's seven offensive rebounds and put it back in the basket. A three-point play. Oak Hill led 65-57.

"Little things are cropping up that hurt you," Goshert said. "Not blocking out on the free throw and them getting the offensive rebound. Losing track of a man and them getting a basket cut and making a wide-open layup.

"Those are the little things that in a close game against a quality team, you're not going to come out on top."

The Squires cut the lead to four a couple of times in the last minute, but that's as close as they got.

Manchester fell behind early, and the Squires couldn't slow Oak Hill enough to catch up. Oak Hill, with the help of nine Odle points in the first quarter, took a 14-4 lead at the start of the game.

"It's a hard row to hoe when you get down 10 points the first three minutes of the game," Goshert said.

Oak Hill won despite abysmal 13-of-32 (41 percent) free throw shooting.

Odle, the third-leading scorer in the state at 31 points per game, scored 25 and had 10 rebounds. Jake Peden led Manchester with 17 points and six rebounds. Eric Swan added 14 points.

Oak Hill improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the Three Rivers Conference.

Manchester, 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the TRC, hosts a 6:30 p.m. Friday game with Whitko. [[In-content Ad]]