SYRACUSE – Late in the second quarter Friday night, Wawasee had cut Manchester’s 13-point lead to seven and had possession of the ball with a chance to trim the deficit even more. From that point on, however, the visiting Squires started moving their feet, stopped fouling, turned up the defensive pressure and adjusted to every defense the Warriors threw at them in a 70-37 win at the Hardwood Tepee Friday. Wawasee tried a variety of defenses, including a box-and-one to try and contain senior Chase Fierstos, the Squires’ leading scorer. The Warriors had limited success at best, with Fierstos getting 14 points in the first half and finishing with a game-high 26. Meanwhile, Squire foul trouble helped the Warriors stay in the game in the first half. By the end of the first quarter Manchester had been called for six team fouls, putting Wawasee in the bonus the entire second period. The Warriors hit 11 of 15 free throws in the first half to keep things relatively close for a while. After intermission, the Warriors shot just two more freebies and turned the ball over nine times, and Manchester went on a 14-2 run that made the score 46-27. The gap ballooned to 34 points before the final buzzer. “I thought our guys did a very good job of adjusting to how the game was called,” Manchester head coach Eric Thompson said. “Once we started moving our feet and stopped gambling we were able to hold them to one shot and stay out of foul trouble. “They threw multiple defenses at us over and over; we hadn’t seen that yet. One we decided to play at our tempo things went rather smoothly then.” With an inexperienced team, Wawasee head coach Steve Wiktorowski looked at the positives in the third game of a long season. “I thought there was some real improvement from the last game,” he said. “I think this is one of the best defensive teams we’ll face this year. I thought in the first half we did some real positive things; our post players came in and did a nice job on the boards. We missed a few easy put-backs that could have put a lot of pressure on them, missed a few throws early that could have (added pressure). “But their point guard (Fierstos) is tremendous. He makes all the rest of them better. In the second half their experience showed a little bit. they ramped up their defense and started to get some turnovers, I thought the key to the game was they had a lot of layup opportunities that were unopposed, as opposed to us having to work hard for every shot we got. “But there were clearly patches of improvement tonight, and that’s what this team’s gonna do; take small steps forward. I thought even though the score does not reflect it at all, there were good things that showed up tonight that we’ve been working on lately.” Fierstos was joined in double figures by sophomore Koehl Fluke with 14 points for Manchester, which moved to 2-1 on the season. In spite of being in foul trouble much of the evening, junior David McAtee added a team-high five rebounds to go with five points. Keelan Norwood had seven points in the fourth quarter for the Squires, who will host Warsaw Thursday night. Nine different players scored for Wawasee, led by Tyler Smith with seven points, and Cameron Schlabach hitting a pair of treys for his six points. Parker Hatfield had a game-high six rebounds. Wawasee (0-3) played without Jayce Boatwright. Wiktorowski said the senior forward turned his ankle in the last five minutes of a practice late this week, and hopes he’ll be available for tonight’s game at West Noble.
MANCHESTER 70, WAWASEE 37 M 11 21 14 24 _ 70 W 7 16 6 8 – 37 Manchester – Chase Fierstos 10-17 5-8 26. Braydon Sewell 5-8 0-1 10, David McAtee 2-3 0-0 5, Koehl Fluke 6-9 0-1 14, Keelan Norwood 3-3 1-1 7, Mason Hamby 1-1 0-0 2, Matthew Pegg 2-4 0-3 4, Braxtin Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Levi Hicks 1-1 0-0 2, Jake Schannep 0-0 0-0 0, Heath Dierks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-46 6-14 70 Wawasee – Cayden Wegener 2-8 0-2 5, Stephon Miller 0-1 2-2 2, Tyler Smith 2-5 3-4 7, Jairus Boyer 1-6 0-0 2, Jacob Hand 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Schlabach 2-4 0-0 6, Zac Linnemeier 0-0 0-0 0, Parker Hatfield 1-1 3-4 5, Tim Conley 1-2 0-0 2, Chase Rookstool 1-3 2-5 4, Dalton Pearish 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 12-34 10-17 37. Three-pointers – Manchester 4 (Fluke 2, Fierstos, McAtee), Wawasee 3 (Schlabach 2, Wegener); Rebounds – Manchester 24 (McAtee 5), Wawasee 21 (Hatfield 6), Turnovers – Manchester 9, Wawasee 14; Fouls – Manchester 19, Wawasee 18; Fouled out – none; Records: Manchester 2-1, Wawasee 0-3 JV – Wawasee 36, Manchester 33 (OT) Manchester – Jake Schannep 19, Levi Hicks 10, Brayden Casper 2, Heath Dierks 2 Wawasee – John Kennedy 6, Blake Norris 6, Zak Linnemeier 5, Cameron Schlabach 5, Ben Hoffert 5, Ryan Edington 5, Jacob Hand 3, Will Geer 1
