NORTH MANCHESTER - It's been a rough year for the Manchester Squires.
The Squires came into the season with a trio of talented junior big men but a brutal conference schedule and some tough non-conference opponents translated into a 4-16 regular season record.Manchester won two of its first three games then lost four straight.
The Squires hung tough with 3A powerhouse Wawasee at home but eventually fell 70-50.
Manchester picked up a win in the Wabash County Tournament over the Wabash Apaches then fell to Northfield in the championship.
Manchester picked up its final win of the regular season in Three Rivers Conference play with another win over Wabash 47-44 Jan. 12
The Apaches participated in the TRC for the first time this year after switching conferences with Oak Hill.
From that point on Manchester suffered nine straight losses in different fashions.
Rochester ran the Squires out of the gym 72-49 then Manchester came back to compete against Tippecanoe Valley before falling 53-41.
Peru held on to beat Manchester by a point 58=57 then the Squires looked to be in position to pick up another TRC win but fell to Whitko 63-58 in a game that saw the Wildcats without the services of sophomore sharp-shooter Cory Snep.
The Squires closed out the season with non-conference losses to Heritage, Columbia City, Churubusco and Huntington North.
The Squires now head into the 2A No. 39 sectional as both hosts and underdogs.
Manchester enters with the worst record of the field but that field also contains Wabash who the Squires beat twice this year.
By record, the odds-on favorite is Lewis Cass with a record of 15-5 and Hall Of Fame coach Basil Mawbey.
Cass' most impressive win of the season came Dec. 16 as the Kings knocked off Rochester in Rochester 44-38.
Cass will take on North Miami (10-10) in tonight's second game.
North Miami was blown out by Cass in the season opener and has lost five of its last seven games to close out the regular season.
Northfield (13-7) takes on Wabash in tonight' first game at 6 p.m
Manchester and Southwood drew byes and will play Friday night with the winner earning a spot in the sectional championship against either Northfield or Cass if things fall according to record.
Northfield and Cass didn't play each other this year.
For Manchester to have a chance to win its first sectional title in Goshert's 11-year tenure as head of the Squires they will need big production from Daniel Bourne, Aaron Medley and David Cable.
Bourne is the team's leading scorer at 16.3 points per
game and also is tied for the team lead in rebounds with Cable at 5.9
Bourne is a 6-foot-5 junior who is tough from the outside but is also capable of scoring on the low blocks.
Medley is another junior and is third on the team in scoring at 8.8 points per game.
Cable is Manchester's second leading scorer at 12.3 points per game and comprises a trio of player that do the lions' share of scoring for the Squires.
Senior Spencer Penrod contributes the only other amount of significant scoring for Manchester at 5.5 points per game.
The Squires trouble this year is their inability to guard smaller players as Bourne, Medley and Cable are all post players.
Manchester is also prone to turn the ball over as the team averages 15.5 turnovers a game.
As a tean the Squires shoot just 40.8 percent from the field and hit just 25 percent of their shots from beyond the three-point arc.
Mancheser is looking to win its first sectional crown since 1995.
The Squires and Southwood square off at 7:30 Friday night.
Repeated attempts to contact coach Goshert for comment were unsucessful.
