NORTH MANCHESTER - The Manchester Squires came into Saturday's game against Wabash playing good early-season basketball, opening their season with a win over (2A No. 9) Maconaquah.

Against Wabash, however, the Squires struggled, outlasting the Apaches 51-38.

Manchester jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the game. Wabash then forced the Squires into a slow halfcourt offense for the rest of the game. At the end of the first quarter Manchester led 11-7.

Not much offense was shown in the second quarter either as both teams combined for only 20 points. Manchester went into halftime with a 23-15 lead even though they were outrebounded 12-6.

This kept Manchester from getting any second chance baskets. The Squires made up for that by shooting 9 of 17 from the field and holding Wabash to 7 of 16.

The pace of the game quickened in the second half but the results remained the same. The Squires began to dominate the inside game with center Chris Enyeart, who had a game-high 15 points and seven rebounds.

The Manchester defense also stepped up big. The squires held Wabash's J.R Hensley, Ryan Elward and Ben Rans to a combined 16 points on 7 of 22 shooting. According to Squire coach Gary Goshert that was one thing they wanted to do.

"Well, we wanted to take some things away from their offense, and we were patient and able to do that," Goshert said.

Despite playing well, Manchester could never break away from Wabash. Going into the final quarter of play, the Squires were up 37-25 but Wabash began to make shots it hadn't earlier in the game.

The Apaches began to chip away some of the Manchester lead before the Squires held the ball and forced Wabash to foul. The foul line is where the game was won for Manchester.

They made 13 of 14 from the line which kept Wabash from drawing any closer.

Manchester, now 2-0, will next host Southwood Friday. [[In-content Ad]]