NORTH MANCHESTER - Peru head coach Terry Heavilon wanted Friday's contest against Manchester to be up-tempo.

The Tigers got off 62 shots. They made only 23, however. Their poor shooting and Manchester's consistent play gave the Squires the edge as they toppled Peru 79-58.

Early in the game it seemed as though Manchester might be upset on their home turf. Squire center Chris Enyeart, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, picked up his second foul with 2:43 left in the first quarter and didn't play the rest of the half.

Enyeart's foul trouble gave Manchester a chance to show its depth. Rex Reimer hit two straight three-pointers and scored eight of Manchester's 21 first-quarter points. Along with Reimer, forwards Scot Croner and Heath Simcoe also stepped up big. The two forwards combined to score 17 first-half points.

On the other side of the spectrum, Peru's play was inconsistent at best. The Tigers managed to shoot only 10 of 27 from the field in the first half. Forward Josh Ulrey alone shot 2 of 10. Peru did get solid contributions from Brandon and LaVar Jones. Brandon had nine first-half points and LaVar was able to pull down six boards while scoring five points in the first half.

The efforts of the Joneses kept Peru in striking distance going into the second half as Peru trailed 37-25.

The Tigers came out in the second half and began to press the Squires. They were able to get some easy shots off turnovers early in the quarter. This allowed the Tigers to keep pace with Manchester. Towards the end of the quarter, however, the Squires began to break the press with Croner. Croner brought the ball up court and was able to penetrate into the middle of the Peru defense.

He began to hit shots and dish off to Enyeart, who was able to get his game back on track.

"When (Enyeart) came back into the game he did some good things for us. He didn't try and do everything all at once. Even though he missed the entire second quarter he came out and did some scoring and rebounding for us." Manchester coach Gary Goshert said.

Enyeart who had no points on no attempts in the first half finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Manchester was up 57-43 going into the fourth quarter and its lead only increased from there. The Squires came out of the blocks and went on an 8-2 run to start the final stanza. Peru then went on to miss its next six shots. A Brandon Jones bucket briefly stopped the bleeding for the Tigers. They then went on another scoring drought - missing their next five shots. Ulrey was the worst offender. He shot 7 of 22 from the floor.

As Manchester began to run away with the game, Peru began to take bad shots. The Tigers managed to shoot only 29 percent from the field in the second half. Poor shooting allowed the Squires to run up and down the floor and get easy shots. Manchester shot a smoldering 72 percent from the floor in the second half.

Five Manchester players reached double figures for the game. Goshert liked the balance.

"I feel fortunate to play as well as we did against these guys and score as well as we did. Tonight was a great example of a team situation where you have the starters playing well and guys coming off the bench."

The Squires are now 12-2 and one conference win away from clinching a share of the TRC crown. Despite their success this year, Goshert isn't worried about his team losing focus.

"The rankings, they're not for us. If anything they get other teams to play us."

Manchester hosts Carroll tonight. [[In-content Ad]]