Warriors Shoot Down Squires
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
After connecting on 13 three-pointers in their Saturday win over West Noble, the Warriors hit nine against the Manchester Squires Tuesday, leading to a 57-44 victory.[[In-content Ad]]
"All teams coming into this year, are concentrating on taking Brandon (Geiger) away," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about his top post player. "Now they're gonna have to start to go out on the perimeter. Hopefully, that will begin to open things up for Brandon and Chas (Amadeo) inside. Once that happens, and both parties get some confidence going, it will be hard to match up with us."
Manchester coach Gary Goshert, who formerly coached at Wawasee, witnessed that gameplan work nicely against his guys.
"There were times when we thought we could help inside, but there were certain lineups when we couldn't, because we'd get burned," he said. "That's what makes good teams, good teams."
Junior Ross Stichter drew the most frequent "Shooter!" yell from the Squires coaches, hitting 4 of 8 treys en route to a game-high 18 points. In the post, Geiger battled a taller Manchester lineup to score 14 points, also grabbing seven rebounds.
"I was real concerned about the height," Mishler said. "Any time a team goes 6-5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, I'm gonna have some mismatch problems. I think it showed up a little bit early, but we were able to counter it with some inside-outside action, hitting some perimeter shots."
Inside, Manchester's 6-5 forward Dan Bourne scored a team-high 13 points, but because of foul trouble had his minutes limited. Even without Bourne, the Manchester frontline still performed, with Aaron Medley scoring 13 points, David Cable scoring six points and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, with Cornelius Cuffy coming off the bench to score four points and record six rebounds to go with three steals.
"It hurt us when Dan got into foul trouble," Goshert said. "But in the third quarter, I thought we did some good things, even though Dan wasn't on the floor. (Cuffy) is starting to feel a little more comfortable, and Medley and Cable battled their fannies off."
That intensity helped Manchester stick with Wawasee until the Warriors used a 13-2 over the last six minutes of the first half to take a commanding 34-19 lead into the half.
"We talked about not just relying on our offense, but that we'd have to depend on our defense," Mishler said. "We knew that Manchester was a real confident team that had a lot of seniors, a lot of experience. We knew they were gonna hit some shots early, we were just going to have to withstand it. With that mindset, our guys were able to withstand their runs, and get some defensive stops and some defensive rebounds."
Prior to the second quarter letdown, which saw the Squires commit four turnovers on as many possessions, Manchester had cut an eight-point deficit into four. But then the wheels fell off.
"I was glad to see how we competed in the first quarter," Goshert said. "For lots of possessions, in that first quarter, we handled the pressure. Then we got in a position, in the second quarter, where we lost our composure.
"When you lose your composure, all kinds of little things take place that you're not practiced for," he added. "We had certain people taking the ball out-of-bounds, we had certain people in certain spots in our press-breaker, we have people catching the ball at point-blank range and not being able to finish it - and just little things like that."
Helping to keep Manchester at bay during the first half was Chas Amadeo. In the half, the Wawasee senior netted eight of his 13 points, including two first-quarter three-pointers.
"Give them credit for the way they play, and they're scrappy," Goshert said of the 3-1 Warriors. "They have kids that can shoot the ball and kids that can take it inside on you."
Along with scrappiness, Mishler also classifies his team as a young one still looking to find its groove.
"It's a team that's finding its identity," he said. "It's a young team, and we're trying to get better every game. We're trying to win the games as we go along, but what we're really trying to do is get our ducks all in a row and get as good as we can at the end of the year."
With a 1-3 mark, Goshert's also looking to get better with each passing game, and against Wawasee, there were some things he was happy about.
"If we can continue to provide that kind of intensity, we're going to continue to improve," he said. "As long as we can shore up, what I think are very fixable things, we'll be fine."
WAWASEE 57, MANCHESTER 44
M 13 6 12 13 - 44
W 19 15 10 13 - 57
Manchester - Penrod 2-5 0-0 5, Bourne 4-10 4-4 13, Holloway 2-4 0-2 4, Cable 2-10 2-2 6, Medley 4-9 2-3 10, Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, Binkley 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-1 0-0 0, Cuffy 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 17-44 8-13 44.
Wawasee - Stichter 6-10 2-4 18, Granger 0-4 0-2 0, Amadeo 5-10 0-0 13, Geiger 3-9 8-11 14, Ringler 3-4 0-3 6, Kaiser 1-2 0-0 3, Beer 0-0 0-0 0, Ruch 1-6 0-0 3, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, McKibben 0-0 0-0 0, Windle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-45 10-20 57.
3-point goals - Manchester 2-8 (Bourne, Penrod), Wawasee 9-19 (Stichter 4, Amadeo 3, Ruch, Kaiser). Team Fouls (fouled out) - Manchester 20 (Bourne), Wawasee 18. Turnovers - Manchester 24, Wawasee 21. Rebounds - Manchester 28 (Cable 8, Cuffy 6), Wawasee 22 (Geiger 7, Amadeo 5). Steals - Manchester 13 (Medley 4, Holloway 3, Cuffy 3), Wawasee 8 (Stichter 2, Geiger 2, Granger 2). Blocks - Manchester 4 (Medley 2), Wawasee 0. Records - Manchester 1-3, Wawasee 3-1. JV Score - Wawasee 32, Manchester 26.
After connecting on 13 three-pointers in their Saturday win over West Noble, the Warriors hit nine against the Manchester Squires Tuesday, leading to a 57-44 victory.[[In-content Ad]]
"All teams coming into this year, are concentrating on taking Brandon (Geiger) away," Wawasee coach Phil Mishler said about his top post player. "Now they're gonna have to start to go out on the perimeter. Hopefully, that will begin to open things up for Brandon and Chas (Amadeo) inside. Once that happens, and both parties get some confidence going, it will be hard to match up with us."
Manchester coach Gary Goshert, who formerly coached at Wawasee, witnessed that gameplan work nicely against his guys.
"There were times when we thought we could help inside, but there were certain lineups when we couldn't, because we'd get burned," he said. "That's what makes good teams, good teams."
Junior Ross Stichter drew the most frequent "Shooter!" yell from the Squires coaches, hitting 4 of 8 treys en route to a game-high 18 points. In the post, Geiger battled a taller Manchester lineup to score 14 points, also grabbing seven rebounds.
"I was real concerned about the height," Mishler said. "Any time a team goes 6-5, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, I'm gonna have some mismatch problems. I think it showed up a little bit early, but we were able to counter it with some inside-outside action, hitting some perimeter shots."
Inside, Manchester's 6-5 forward Dan Bourne scored a team-high 13 points, but because of foul trouble had his minutes limited. Even without Bourne, the Manchester frontline still performed, with Aaron Medley scoring 13 points, David Cable scoring six points and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, with Cornelius Cuffy coming off the bench to score four points and record six rebounds to go with three steals.
"It hurt us when Dan got into foul trouble," Goshert said. "But in the third quarter, I thought we did some good things, even though Dan wasn't on the floor. (Cuffy) is starting to feel a little more comfortable, and Medley and Cable battled their fannies off."
That intensity helped Manchester stick with Wawasee until the Warriors used a 13-2 over the last six minutes of the first half to take a commanding 34-19 lead into the half.
"We talked about not just relying on our offense, but that we'd have to depend on our defense," Mishler said. "We knew that Manchester was a real confident team that had a lot of seniors, a lot of experience. We knew they were gonna hit some shots early, we were just going to have to withstand it. With that mindset, our guys were able to withstand their runs, and get some defensive stops and some defensive rebounds."
Prior to the second quarter letdown, which saw the Squires commit four turnovers on as many possessions, Manchester had cut an eight-point deficit into four. But then the wheels fell off.
"I was glad to see how we competed in the first quarter," Goshert said. "For lots of possessions, in that first quarter, we handled the pressure. Then we got in a position, in the second quarter, where we lost our composure.
"When you lose your composure, all kinds of little things take place that you're not practiced for," he added. "We had certain people taking the ball out-of-bounds, we had certain people in certain spots in our press-breaker, we have people catching the ball at point-blank range and not being able to finish it - and just little things like that."
Helping to keep Manchester at bay during the first half was Chas Amadeo. In the half, the Wawasee senior netted eight of his 13 points, including two first-quarter three-pointers.
"Give them credit for the way they play, and they're scrappy," Goshert said of the 3-1 Warriors. "They have kids that can shoot the ball and kids that can take it inside on you."
Along with scrappiness, Mishler also classifies his team as a young one still looking to find its groove.
"It's a team that's finding its identity," he said. "It's a young team, and we're trying to get better every game. We're trying to win the games as we go along, but what we're really trying to do is get our ducks all in a row and get as good as we can at the end of the year."
With a 1-3 mark, Goshert's also looking to get better with each passing game, and against Wawasee, there were some things he was happy about.
"If we can continue to provide that kind of intensity, we're going to continue to improve," he said. "As long as we can shore up, what I think are very fixable things, we'll be fine."
WAWASEE 57, MANCHESTER 44
M 13 6 12 13 - 44
W 19 15 10 13 - 57
Manchester - Penrod 2-5 0-0 5, Bourne 4-10 4-4 13, Holloway 2-4 0-2 4, Cable 2-10 2-2 6, Medley 4-9 2-3 10, Thomas 1-1 0-0 2, Binkley 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-1 0-0 0, Cuffy 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 17-44 8-13 44.
Wawasee - Stichter 6-10 2-4 18, Granger 0-4 0-2 0, Amadeo 5-10 0-0 13, Geiger 3-9 8-11 14, Ringler 3-4 0-3 6, Kaiser 1-2 0-0 3, Beer 0-0 0-0 0, Ruch 1-6 0-0 3, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, McKibben 0-0 0-0 0, Windle 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-45 10-20 57.
3-point goals - Manchester 2-8 (Bourne, Penrod), Wawasee 9-19 (Stichter 4, Amadeo 3, Ruch, Kaiser). Team Fouls (fouled out) - Manchester 20 (Bourne), Wawasee 18. Turnovers - Manchester 24, Wawasee 21. Rebounds - Manchester 28 (Cable 8, Cuffy 6), Wawasee 22 (Geiger 7, Amadeo 5). Steals - Manchester 13 (Medley 4, Holloway 3, Cuffy 3), Wawasee 8 (Stichter 2, Geiger 2, Granger 2). Blocks - Manchester 4 (Medley 2), Wawasee 0. Records - Manchester 1-3, Wawasee 3-1. JV Score - Wawasee 32, Manchester 26.
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