NORTH MANCHESTER - County rivals Manchester and Wabash squared off Tuesday to open play in Class 2A Sectional 39 action at Manchester High School.
Manchester's Austin Crockett hit two free throws with 5.2 seconds left in overtime to seal a 54-51 victory and advance the host Squires to Friday's semifinal round against the Southwood Knights, who drew a first round bye.Manchester (3-18) will play Southwood at 6 p.m., followed by Northfield (10-10) and North Miami (16-5). North Miami advanced by beating Cass 71-36 in Tuesday's second game.
Wabash finished its season with a 3-18 record.
Two of the Squires' three wins this season came against Wabash, a team Manchester also beat 61-49 in the first round of the Wabash County Tournament on Jan. 2.
"Both teams are pretty equal and it was a good game," said Manchester coach Gary Goshert. "Neither team hung their head tonight. We did a good job for the most part getting into position defensively tonight."
After trailing 6-0 early, the Squires later went on a 20-2 run and went into the locker room with a 22-13 lead at halftime.
"Our kids came out great right out of the gate tonight," said Wabash coach Tom Robbins. "Manchester then made a huge run and we had to play catch up."
Ryan Richman of Wabash tied the game at 45-45 with 40 seconds left in regulation. Both teams missed what would have been game-winning shots and the contest went to overtime.
To start the overtime, Manchester's Coltin Jenks took the opening tip and scored on an uncontested lay up. Jenks finished with 12 points.
The Squires' Austin Flack scored on a jumper with 3:27 remaining and put Manchester up by four at 49-45.
"The opening tip off is what broke our backs," said Robbins. "We battled and took the game into overtime and they immediately went up four."
The trio of Scott Baker, Aric Howard and Crockett provided a shot in the arm for Manchester, scoring 18 of the Squires' 22 points in the first half.
"Scott Baker and Austin Crockett came up big for us tonight," said Goshert. "Austin hit those two big free throws for us to help seal the game."
Baker had a double-double night. He scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
In the second half, the turnovers began to creep up on Manchester, as the Squires finished with 17 turnovers on the night. Wabash took advantage of the turnovers to slowly chip away at the Squire lead.
Wabash's Bobby Snyder led all scorers on the night with 27, including 20 in the second half. Snyder hit a three-point basket with 1:01 left in regulation to bring the Apaches to within one at 44-43.
Ryan Binkley then hit one of two free throws to put his team up 45-43. Richman scored Wabash's final bucket of regulation, tying the game and sending the teams to overtime.
"You have to give Wabash credit they just kept battling back and sent us into overtime," said Goshert. "Both teams are so equal. I don't think they had a player tonight that played in last year's tournament. We didn't have one that played last year I know that."
Crocket also scored a double-double on the night, as hefinished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Crockett also had two blocked shots and one steal.
Flack and Howard each came off the bench and scored five points each, while Howard also pulled down seven rebounds.
Richman added 10 points for the Apaches, while Matt Henderson finished with nine points and four rebounds.
"These kids played well together this year," said Robbins. "The important thing is that they never gave up on each other and continued to battle in each and every game. Congratulations to Manchester tonight. They did a good job."
