COLUMBIA CITY - Manchester coach Gary Goshert stood outside the Manchester locker room door with his hands on his knees in the same form that tired players often do on the court.

His team had just finished defeating a Columbia City squad in a mentally and physically exhausting basketball game. The Squires fought from behind most of the game before finally shaking the Eagles in the second overtime for a 54-50 win.

Goshert, it appeared, was just as tired, if not more so, than his players. After all, they went jumping and running off the court after Rex Reimer's steal and lay-up in the final 15 seconds of the second extra frame sealed the deal.

"There was a lot of hard work going on out there by both teams," Goshert said. "But it was just difficult getting the ball in the hoop at times. I just can't tell you how happy I am for our kids and their effort and keeping their poise in most situations."

That poise that Goshert talked about showed itself multiple times throughout the game, whether it came after the 20-15 halftime deficit or the 30-23 score in favor of Columbia City with three minutes to play in the third quarter. Neither of those times were the worst, though, for Manchester.

After coming back from those other deficits, there should have been no doubt that the Squires could come back from down 45-40 with 1:27 to play in the first overtime. However, it looked bleak for the visitors.

Chris Enyeart knocked in a pair of free throws with 1:07 left, and Columbia City's Chad Graves could put down only one free throw on the ensuing possession to make the score 46-42.

Reimer came back with his first basket since the opening quarter to cut the lead in half with 23 seconds to play, and the Squires forced a Columbia City double dribble with just 11 ticks left on the clock. When Jonathan Price hit his first basket of the game eight seconds later, the Squires erupted, realizing they had been given second life.

With that hope still alive, Manchester never trailed the rest of the way, although the game was still tied at 50-50 with 1:17 to play. However, Reimer canned two free throws and then got the steal and layup with 10 seconds left to ice the game.

Enyeart scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Squires, and Reimer added 10 points as the only other Manchester player in double figures. The Squires had just 10 turnovers as a team.

"We played eight kids tonight," Goshert said. "And all eight boys did an excellent job. There was a lot of growing up, a lot of confidence built out there. It was going to be good for us no matter what the outcome, but it is even better now that we were able to come out on top."

Columbia City was led, sort of, by Dave Richmond. He scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds for the game, but struggled from the free throw line with the game on the line. He was just 4-of-11 from the charity stripe and just 2 of 7 after the first two quarters. As a team, Columbia City made just 8 of 21 free throws as what proved to be a costly statistic.

Manchester led a see-saw first quarter 9-8 on five points from Enyeart. But in the second quarter, the Squires went cold, scoring just six points. Richmond scored six points in that quarter and the Eagles hit both of their three-pointers in that quarter.

In the third quarter, Columbia City went up 30-23 with 3:22 to play, but with starting center Jason Elkins on the bench and Richmond in and out of the game with foul trouble, the Squires chipped away at the lead and closed to 31-29 heading into the fourth quarter. Enyeart scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the quarter for Manchester.

The Squires went up 39-34 with 3:19 to play in the game, but did not make another field goal for almost seven minutes, including the overtime. Columbia City did tie the game at 40-40 on a layup from Matt Moore with 34 seconds to play to send the game into overtime.

Columbia City is now 5-2. Manchester (5-1) will play in the Wabash County tournament Friday. [[In-content Ad]]