NORTH MANCHESTER - The news spilled inside the North Manchester gymnasium before the varsity tipoff.

Jeff Brown and Nick Stutzman, two Tippecanoe Valley starters, were suspended four games for disciplinary reasons. Translation: They were someplace they shouldn't have been, and they did something they shouldn't have done.

So Valley went to battle without them last night against Manchester. Both teams were 8-6 coming in. But on this night, the Manchester Squires were 34 points better. They trampled Valley 75-41.

Before the game, Manchester coach Gary Goshert warned his team about the pitfalls of overconfidence.

"They were shorthanded because of some unfortunate decisions made by young kids," Goshert said. "The kids mentioned something when they were getting dressed. I told them Valley would bust their tails, just like we would if we lost a couple of players.

"The fact our team was talking about it, I told them it was already starting to distract them. I told them I didn't want to hear about it. You gotta play the game."

Play, indeed. Goshert will lock this game tape up, because his Squires could do no wrong.

Turnovers? They had two.

Rebounding? They outrebounded Valley 13-6 on the offensive glass. If they missed their first shot, no problem. Get the offensive rebound, and make the second, third or fourth attempt. And this leads to...

Shooting. They made 31 of 49 shots from the floor: 63 percent.

Goshert can live with those numbers, two turnovers and 63 percent shooting.

"Yeah, a lot of things did go well," Goshert said. "We didn't make too many turnovers. Two, three, whatever...that's not very many, no matter what level you play at. We had good control on the boards. We don't do that well in practice."

With Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman, Valley wins this game.

With Jeff Brown and Nick Stutzman, Valley may still lose this game. Having them was no guarantee to win. Manchester played well.

Valley led early. Eric Love buried a three-pointer and hit four free throws to help the Vikings build an 11-6 lead with 4:07 left in the first.

Then it fell apart.

Manchester outscored Valley 31-13 to take a 37-24 halftime lead. Six-foot-five junior center Chris Enyeart, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds two nights ago in a 65-47 win against Whitko, tallied 16 points by halftime.

He physically dominated Valley inside. Manchester had a 30-17 lead with 5:08 to go in the second quarter. Valley's Bryan Lenfestey drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to 30-20. With a defensive stop, Valley could get right back in the game.

The Vikings could not get that stop. Fourteen seconds after Lenfestey's trey, Enyeart scored underneath the basket.

But these Vikings were stubborn. Six-foot-three forward JayDee Parker, starting in place of Stutzman, scored to make it 32-22 with 1:50 left before halftime.

Thirteen seconds after his basket, Enyeart made two free throws. He bumped the lead up to 12.

"Chris is doing a lot of good things at both ends of the floor," Goshert said.

The lead only grew the rest of the game. Manchester's Scot Croner rebounded a missed Manchester shot and put it back in as time ran off the clock the first half. His basket, which gave the Squires the 37-24 lead, was the exclamation point on Valley's problems the first half - no rebounding.

Manchester outscored Valley 21-6 in the third to blow the game open.

Valley coach Gregg Sciarra had little to say afterward, although the words "ugly" and "game" came up.

Brown and Stutzman were Valley's two leading rebounders. The Vikings miss that, but they also just miss having their bodies. Valley has had little depth all season. Before they lost those two, the Vikings were basically an eight-man team then.

"Without them (Brown, Stutzman), we're a different team," Sciarra said.

Without Brown and Stutzman, the Viking game plan was to try to stay in the by eating time off the clock. Valley had attempted only 11 shots from the field at halftime. The Vikings had nearly as many turnovers (eight).

"We wanted to be selective on our shots," Sciarra said. "We did OK there, except every time we scored the first three or four possessions, they came down and scored right away.

"Our inexperience...I don't know really what else to say. Our kids played hard. We have a lot of kids who will have to grow up in a hurry."

Enyeart led Manchester with 23 points, and Brandon Reimer added 12. Love and Parker scored 10 for Valley.

Goshert knows two turnovers and 63 percent shooting won't happen every game.

"As far as execution at the offensive end of the floor, this has to be the best efficiency rating we could ever come up with," he said. "Good efficiency as far as points per possession."

Valley, 8-7 overall and 3-3 in the Three Rivers Conference, hosts Wabash on Friday.

Manchester, 9-6 overall and 5-1 in the TRC, hosts Churubusco on Friday. [[In-content Ad]]