WABASH – The Manchester Squires boys’ basketball team tipped off at 6 p.m. in Wabash’s Coolman Gym for the first of two IHSAA Class 2A Sectional 38 boys’ basketball semifinals’ games last night, ending the Rochester Zebras’ season with a 71-46 win.
The brutally efficient Squires only needed 73 minutes from tip-off to the final buzzer thanks to a stifling defense, and solid offensive ball movement to hold the Zebras to 11 first half points enroute to a win where Manchester landed right on their average scoring margin (25 points) when the game ended.
Manchester also topped Rochester by the same margin, 70-45, in a January 24 conference win when they hosted their Three Rivers Conference rivals in regular season action.
Rochester played a physical defense and double teamed the Squires’ Grace College commit 6’6” Swiss Army knife Gavin Betten when he’d move to the baseline for an inside drive. Betten reached and surpassed 2,000 career points in the postseason victory.
With Betten – in relative terms – in check in the first quarter, the Zebras had a different problem on their hands with 5’8” senior guard Ethan Hendrix took charge of the contest for Manchester on both ends of the court.
Leading 12-6 entering the second stanza, Hendrix had at least one-half dozen steals in the first half, two of those he converted into layups before Rochester could get out of their own backcourt.
Hendrix hit two 3-point jumpers (finishing with five treys for the evening) to finish the period with 10 points, 14 tallies altogether at halftime. The Squires tore off a 13-2 run in the first 3 ½ minutes of the second quarter building toward a 32-11 halftime lead.
The catalyst for the big run was a 2-2-1 full court zone press. When Hendrix wasn’t swiping and scoring, he was pushing the ball up in transition, and the floor began to open for Betten, the 2024 Times-Union Player of The Year.
“You saw that first half,” Manchester fifth-year head coach Eli Henson remarked. “We were locked in defensively. We knew where the shooters were at all times. We did a good job rotating and talking.”
In the middle and late part of the first quarter, Henson continued to counsel his Squires on moving the ball inside. The pressure defense opened transition opportunities down the lane, allowing Betten and Tallon Torpy to add 9 and five first half points, respectively.
Kaleb Kline, Wyatt Prater, Aaron Reid, and Dallas Martin had important parts of the collective Squires defensive effort.
The third quarter opened up with Manchester ripping the cords from 3-point range hotting three treys in each of the second half quarters. Rochester answered with some solid outside shooting in the third period resulting in more points for the Zebras (18) than they scored in the entire first half.
A notable Manchester team defense achievement, however, was holding the Zebras 5’11” senior guard Drew Bowers to two first half and six for the night after Bowers lit up for 36 points in the quarterfinal 64-51 win Tuesday over Eastern Greentown.
Bowers’ final bucket was after Manchester sat their starters down in the fourth quarter.
Rochester’s Owen Prater hit a third quarter buzzer beater after Manchester led by 29 tallies, 56-27, and the Squires had a commanding lead, 56-29 before the TRC rivals launched their final quarter.
Although the Zebras’ scoring improved, the Squires were able to spread their lead with crisp passing and good footspeed in transition. The highlight of the third quarter that was testimony to Manchester’s momentum was Hendrix quickly advancing the ball up the court, firing a rocket pass to Betten, a very graceful “big” who showed the paid attendance why he’ll be playing at the next level next year, with a dazzling Euro step move and a finger roll score inside.
“Transition points are huge for us and that’s what (Hendrix) has done all year for us,” Henson noted.
“He and Gavin (Betten) will get four or five steals a game because they’re so active.”
The Squires flirted with the 35-point running margin a few times in the fourth quarter, but Rochester would answer with mostly three-point baskets when that threshold was within its closest reach for Manchester.
Hendrix sat down for the night with his game leading 23 points at 4:39, when the Squires led 65-33.
The Zebras, however, would not go gentle into that good night, assuring they would not have their season shortened even swifter than the 73 minutes the Squires took to eliminate them. A 13-6 run was too little, too late for the Zebras when the final buzzer sounded, and the scoreboard displayed the 71-46 final score.
Among Squires who marked the official scorebook Betten’s 12 second half points resulted in a 21-point performance last night. Tallon Torpy added 12 points including Manchester’s first buckets in the opening of the first and second halves draining threes each time.
Kaleb Kline added 6 tallies on two buckets beyond the arch, Wyatt Schroll added 5 points and Dallas Martin (2 points) rounded out the offensive output.
“We shot the ball extremely well,” Henson said. “If we can shoot the ball that well tomorrow night, we’ll be fine, but we still have to work through Gavin (Betten) in the inside.
“We gotta’ focus on this next game and take out (Oak Hill’s guard, Jace) Tonagel,” Henson continued regarding tonight’s final. “He’s one of the best guards in the state. He just does such a good job facilitating the offense, getting everybody involved. If our defense plays like that… I don’t know who could beat us.”
Oak Hill will play a less physical game than Rochester played Friday night, but Henson and his Squires are well aware they’re a team who can find a way to take out a team’s best players.
The final tonight will tip off at 7:30 p.m. in Wabash High School’s Cooman Gym.