NORTH MANCHESTER - When the Whitko basketball team has won games this year, the Wildcats have done so by crashing the offensive glass and getting easy putbacks.

Manchester took away those easy putbacks Tuesday night, and the Squires ran over Whitko 65-47. The Squires improved to 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the Three Rivers Conference, tying them for first with Northfield. Whitko fell to 5-8 and 1-2 in the TRC.

Whitko coach Dave Henson did everything but offer a full refund to Whitko fans.

"We were very disappointing," Henson said. "In a big game, a big rivalry, I thought we'd play hard. I'm disappointed we didn't. They were outhustling us to the ball. They came to play. We didn't."

Whitko seniors Zach Henson and Jason Ayres entered averaging a combined 33 points per game. They had 14 against Manchester. Henson scored 14 on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor. Ayres had none on 0-of-9 shooting.

Those two Whitko players had subpar games. At the same time, two Manchester players turned in career nights.

Six-foot-three forward Jake Peden and 6-4 center Chris Enyeart played big roles in Manchester's win, combining for 33 points and 18 rebounds. Enyeart hit 9 of 10 shots from the field and had 19 points and 13 rebounds. Peden had 14 points and five rebounds.

Those two entered the game averaging a combined 18 points and 12 rebounds per game this season.

The Squires hit 22 of 46 shots against Whitko. Fifteen of the 22 makes came in the paint. Whitko hit just 16 of 47 shots against Manchester. Manchester coach Gary Goshert felt all along to be at the Wildcats, you have to keep them off the offensive glass. His team did that. Whitko finished with nine offensive rebounds.

"We wanted to keep pressure on them, and we wanted to make them work as hard as they possibly could," Goshert said. "For the most part, we did that. We had a great defensive effort. Deflections, steals, defensive rebounds. That was our whole point."

Enyeart took a page out of Whitko's playbook to build the Squires' lead in the first half.

With Manchester leading 20-15, Enyeart scored the next six points. Four of the points came on offensive rebounds that he put back in. He gave Manchester a 26-15 lead with 3:18 to go in the first half. The Manchester lead stayed at 11 at halftime, 30-19.

Whitko, the team that thrives on offensive rebounds that are turned into points, settled for only six points in the paint the first half.

The Squires started the second half where they left off the first half, seemingly sucking the life right out of Whitko. Manchester scored the first six points of the last half to take a 36-19 lead.

Whitko hacked away at the lead, getting it down to 11 again, 40-29 with 3:33 to go. A three-pointer by Manchester's Chris Good and another basket underneath by Enyeart extended Manchester's lead to 45-29 with 2:14 to go in the third.

"Manchester's the type of team you don't want to get behind, because they spread the floor out on you," Henson said. "That's our weakness, we don't have the team speed to chase players down when they do that to us.

"We got behind, then we tried to ramrod the ball into the basket. We not only didn't shoot well, we didn't hustle, either."

Manchester's five-point spurt finished off Whitko for good. The Wildcats got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

"I'm really pleased with the effort the kids put forth, how hard they worked," Goshert said. "They didn't let Whitko have a bunch of offensive rebounds. That's a big part of their game, and they're quite a bit bigger than we are. We knew that was important, to not let them kill us on the boards."

Manchester hosts Tippecanoe Valley (8-6, 3-2) on Friday.

Whitko is at Wawasee on Friday. [[In-content Ad]]