Walpole Leads Wildcats Past Squires
February 13, 2017 at 6:58 p.m.
Walpole Leads Wildcats Past Squires
By Ryan Villanueva-
Whitko came into the contest on a three-game winning streak; whereas Manchester had also been playing well in the TRC and held a one-game advantage over the Wildcats in the standings. While it remained close down to the wire, Whitko got a couple more baskets to fall in over their guests.
Behind Nate Walpole’s game-high 28 points, the Wildcats were able to escape with a 57-54 win over the Squires.
“We’ve had problems in the past in closing out close games, but we’ve closed out a few lately. So, that’s good for our confidence to win that one,” said Whitko head boys basketball coach Eli Henson.
The win places the Cats on a four-game win streak, which is the momentum Henson hopes can be carried over into the state tournament.
“Our whole goal is we don’t want to lose before sectionals, and we want to go win our sectional,” said Henson. “We have to win eight in a row in order to achieve that, and so far we are on the right track.”
Whitko improved to 5-3 in the TRC and 12-7 overall, putting them in third place in the standings behind leader Southwood and Maconaquah.
The Squires fell to 5-4 in the TRC and 6-13 overall. Manchester was paced by junior guard/forward Mason Hamby’s 23 points.
“Mason had a good game for us with 23, David (McAtee) got 14 and Koehl (Fluke) chipped in eight,” said Manchester coach Mark Underwood. “Fifty four is about our average, and we held [Whitko] down below their average by about 12 points. But, we just needed to do a little bit more than that on both sides tonight.”
The Cats fell behind early, finding themselves down 7-2 after a three-point shot was made by Hamby. Whitko clawed its way back after a flurry of shots made by Walpole and River West to find themselves with a 14-9 lead after the first quarter of action.
In the second quarter, Walpole and West made a handful of three-point baskets and Whitko extended its largest lead of the half to 10. However, behind Hamby’s 11 first-half points, the Squires managed to trim the deficit to five by halftime. Walpole scored 15 first-half points.
“We were up 10 in the second quarter and we couldn’t maintain that. We just didn’t play strong enough tonight,” said Henson. “We missed too many easy ones around the rim, and we didn’t get a lot of rebounds like we should have on the defensive end that led to a couple things for [Manchester] to be successful offensively.”
Coming out of the break, Whitko stretched its lead back out to 10 again, but after consecutive turnovers, the Squires converted on each possession and eventually trimmed Whitko’s lead down to five again at the end of the third quarter.
A basket from Hamby and a three-pointer made by Fluke brought it to a tie-game with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Walpole would answer back with four points of his own to get Whitko’s lead back.
Whitko was forced into a turnover with 25.7 seconds remaining, which was capitalized on by a layup from McAtee and the Wildcat lead was down to one. Manchester’s Kamdyn Lester fouled Walpole with 6.7 remaining, but Walpole made both shots to push the lead back to three, which proved to be enough for the Cats to get the win.
The Cats next play on Tuesday, when they will host the Peru Tigers.
“We didn’t play well tonight, but we played well enough to win,” said Henson. “We can play a helluva lot better than that, so hopefully come Tuesday we’ll show up and be ready to go.”
Manchester will look to bounce back on Friday night when they return home to face the Columbia City Eagles.
WHITKO 57, MANCHESTER 54
M 9 18 14 13 – 54
W 14 18 14 11 – 57
Manchester – Brayden Casper 1 0-0 2, Adam Byers 0 0-0 0, Mason Hamby 11 0-0 23, David McAtee 7 0-0 14, Kamdyn Lester 1 2-2 4, Koehl Fluke 3 0-0 8, Levi Hicks 0 0-0 0, Devon Rooney 1 0-0 3, Kane Gable 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 2-2 54.
Whitko – Nate Walpole 8 9-9 28, River West 4 2-4 11, Spencer Sroufe 4 0-0 8, Colin Craig 1 0-0 2, Alex Robbins 2 0-0 6, Alex Bechtold 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 13-17 57.
Three-pointers – Manchester 4 (Fluke 2, Hamby, Rooney), Whitko 6 (Walpole 3, Robbins 2, West); Records: Manchester 6-13 (5-4 TRC), Whitko 12-7 (5-3)
JV – Manchester 27, Whitko 24
Manchester – Underwood 10, Parrett 5, McAtee 4, Davis 4, Isbell 2, Meyer 2
Whitko – Swick 7, Ebbinghouse 4, Arnold 4, Stanley 3, Bechtold 2, Blaine 2, Glidden 2
Whitko came into the contest on a three-game winning streak; whereas Manchester had also been playing well in the TRC and held a one-game advantage over the Wildcats in the standings. While it remained close down to the wire, Whitko got a couple more baskets to fall in over their guests.
Behind Nate Walpole’s game-high 28 points, the Wildcats were able to escape with a 57-54 win over the Squires.
“We’ve had problems in the past in closing out close games, but we’ve closed out a few lately. So, that’s good for our confidence to win that one,” said Whitko head boys basketball coach Eli Henson.
The win places the Cats on a four-game win streak, which is the momentum Henson hopes can be carried over into the state tournament.
“Our whole goal is we don’t want to lose before sectionals, and we want to go win our sectional,” said Henson. “We have to win eight in a row in order to achieve that, and so far we are on the right track.”
Whitko improved to 5-3 in the TRC and 12-7 overall, putting them in third place in the standings behind leader Southwood and Maconaquah.
The Squires fell to 5-4 in the TRC and 6-13 overall. Manchester was paced by junior guard/forward Mason Hamby’s 23 points.
“Mason had a good game for us with 23, David (McAtee) got 14 and Koehl (Fluke) chipped in eight,” said Manchester coach Mark Underwood. “Fifty four is about our average, and we held [Whitko] down below their average by about 12 points. But, we just needed to do a little bit more than that on both sides tonight.”
The Cats fell behind early, finding themselves down 7-2 after a three-point shot was made by Hamby. Whitko clawed its way back after a flurry of shots made by Walpole and River West to find themselves with a 14-9 lead after the first quarter of action.
In the second quarter, Walpole and West made a handful of three-point baskets and Whitko extended its largest lead of the half to 10. However, behind Hamby’s 11 first-half points, the Squires managed to trim the deficit to five by halftime. Walpole scored 15 first-half points.
“We were up 10 in the second quarter and we couldn’t maintain that. We just didn’t play strong enough tonight,” said Henson. “We missed too many easy ones around the rim, and we didn’t get a lot of rebounds like we should have on the defensive end that led to a couple things for [Manchester] to be successful offensively.”
Coming out of the break, Whitko stretched its lead back out to 10 again, but after consecutive turnovers, the Squires converted on each possession and eventually trimmed Whitko’s lead down to five again at the end of the third quarter.
A basket from Hamby and a three-pointer made by Fluke brought it to a tie-game with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Walpole would answer back with four points of his own to get Whitko’s lead back.
Whitko was forced into a turnover with 25.7 seconds remaining, which was capitalized on by a layup from McAtee and the Wildcat lead was down to one. Manchester’s Kamdyn Lester fouled Walpole with 6.7 remaining, but Walpole made both shots to push the lead back to three, which proved to be enough for the Cats to get the win.
The Cats next play on Tuesday, when they will host the Peru Tigers.
“We didn’t play well tonight, but we played well enough to win,” said Henson. “We can play a helluva lot better than that, so hopefully come Tuesday we’ll show up and be ready to go.”
Manchester will look to bounce back on Friday night when they return home to face the Columbia City Eagles.
WHITKO 57, MANCHESTER 54
M 9 18 14 13 – 54
W 14 18 14 11 – 57
Manchester – Brayden Casper 1 0-0 2, Adam Byers 0 0-0 0, Mason Hamby 11 0-0 23, David McAtee 7 0-0 14, Kamdyn Lester 1 2-2 4, Koehl Fluke 3 0-0 8, Levi Hicks 0 0-0 0, Devon Rooney 1 0-0 3, Kane Gable 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 2-2 54.
Whitko – Nate Walpole 8 9-9 28, River West 4 2-4 11, Spencer Sroufe 4 0-0 8, Colin Craig 1 0-0 2, Alex Robbins 2 0-0 6, Alex Bechtold 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 13-17 57.
Three-pointers – Manchester 4 (Fluke 2, Hamby, Rooney), Whitko 6 (Walpole 3, Robbins 2, West); Records: Manchester 6-13 (5-4 TRC), Whitko 12-7 (5-3)
JV – Manchester 27, Whitko 24
Manchester – Underwood 10, Parrett 5, McAtee 4, Davis 4, Isbell 2, Meyer 2
Whitko – Swick 7, Ebbinghouse 4, Arnold 4, Stanley 3, Bechtold 2, Blaine 2, Glidden 2
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