The 2023-24 regular season for the Manchester Squires boys basketball team has been one to remember.
The Squires head into the postseason with a 18-4 record, the second straight year Manchester has posted 18 straight wins. The last time that happened were the 1993-95 seasons, the second of which saw the Squires start 23-0.
Coincidently, that was the last year Manchester hoisted a sectional championship. Manchester finished Three Rivers Conference play with an 8-1 record, good enough to earn a split with Wabash for the team’s first TRC title since the 2014-15 season.
The Squires didn’t just win most of their games this season, they flat out dominated. Manchester averaged just under 70 points per contest, scored over 80 three times and even cracked 100 in an 82-point win over North Miami. 12 of the team’s wins came by double digits.
“We have a roster full of players that are willing to work hard every day and do what it takes to be great. They have been consistent and disciplined since day one and have continued to stay hungry and want to achieve more,” Manchester head coach Eli Henson said. “We have a very unselfish, deep team that will do all the little things to win. Nearly every game this season, we’ve played nine guys and that has helped us develop our identity of an aggressive team on both ends of the floor.”
Heading into tournament week, the Squires are ranked as the No. 6 team in Class 2A by the Associated Press. In most cases, a top-10 team in the state would be favored to blow by the rest of the sectional competition to find a spot in the regional. However, IHSAA 2A Sectional 37 at Bluffton is not most sectionals.
Along with the No. 6 Squires, Sectional 37 boasts two other top 10 teams in the form of No. 5 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (18-5, 6-2 Summit) and No. 7 Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian (18-6). The tournament was very close to boasting four top-ten teams in the bracket before Adams Central (19-4, 7-0 Allen County) was bumped out to No. 12 last week.
“We have to be focused and disciplined all week. We have three very tough potential opponents that we would have to face in order to win a championship,” Henson said. “We will have the mentality of one game at a time and make sure we are doing everything we can to be prepared for each possible opponent.”
South Adams will take on Adams Central in the lone game on Tuesday evening, with Blackhawk Christian awaiting the winner on Friday. Bishop Luers faces off against Bluffton in the second game on Wednesday night.
Manchester will play in the first game on Wednesday against an opponent that both the team and Henson are incredibly familiar with: TRC rival Whitko. The Wildcats (18-4, 6-3 TRC) have had a fantastic season of their own, and those curious about how the regular season meeting between these two teams went don’t need to look hard. Whitko defeated Manchester 56-51 just last week to snap a 10-game winning streak for the Squires while also giving Manchester its lone conference loss. Henson previously coached the Wildcats for four years before being hired at Manchester in 2020, compiling a 46-48 record.
“Whitko is a very good team that continues to progress as the season prolongs. They have a lot of size in [Sam] Essegian and [Kyler] Krull and do some really nice high/low actions that are difficult to guard,” Henson said. “I feel like we didn’t hold anything back when we played them in the regular season and we will figure out ways to make some adjustments come tournament time.”
Manchester does have one weapon at its disposal that gives them the ability to beat anyone: 6’8” junior forward Gavin Betten. The big man has put together an outstanding season for the Squires this winter, leading the team in points (21.9), rebounds (11.1), assists (4.4), blocks (3.1) and field goal percentage (61%). On a nightly basis, Betten has gone toe-to-toe with some of the best players Northern Indiana has to offer, and has emerged as the best player on the court more times than not. Henson did not hold back when praising his star.
“Going into every game knowing you have the best overall player on the court makes me confident we can beat anyone,” Henson said. “I’ve been around Gavin for three years now and have watched him grow as a player and a person. He has a passion to be great at basketball and shows it in his approach day in and day out. He can change a game at both ends of the floor and always leads by example.”
But Betten is the furthest thing from a one-man show. He’s got a supporting cast around him that has made the Squires one of the top 2A teams in the state. Ethan Hendrix spends most nights as the team’s point guard and secondary scorer, averaging 13.4 points a night to go with 4.1 assists. Senior Gavin Martin is averaging just over 10 points a night and is lethal shooting the ball from deep. Tyler McLain averages just over seven points and four assists while also serving as a lockdown defender on the perimeter. Add in complimentary pieces like Garrett Sites, Talon Torpy and Kaleb Kline, and you’ve got a team that can beat you in a variety of ways.
“We have a ton of guys that do a great job at making their teammates better,” Henson said. “We want to play fast and put pressure on teams defensively, which is something we’ve done all season. If we stick to our identity, we’ll be a tough out.”