Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊPeople who came in during the second half of the consolation game of the Wabash County Tournament between Manchester and Wabash probably thought they were watching a junior varsity game.
Once those people realized it was a varsity matchup they were watching, they probably wished there was a mercy rule in high school basketball as the Squires scalped the Apaches 92-34.
Manchester took a decisive lead from the start of the game and by the second half, Wabash had several junior varsity players on the court while Manchester utsed its bench players to finish the game on a strong note.
The Squires held Wabash scoreless for more than three minutes in the beginning of the first quarter and used a balanced offense that saw five players combine for 16 points as the Squires outscored the Apaches 16-2.
"We wanted to get back the little things we need to have to Continued from Page 1B
win games." said Manchester coach Gary Goshert. "I'm proud of the intensity we came out with."
Steve Fawcett broke out for seven points in the second quarter as Manchester scored 23 points in the second frame. The Squires then held Wabash to just eight second quarter points and headed for the lockers with a decisive 39-10 lead.
The second half looked much like the first as Manchester outscored Wabash in each of the final two quarters.
Rex Reimer nailed three treys in the third quarter to add nine of Manchester's 28 third quarter points.
Heading into the final quarter, Manchester was up 67-22.
Lee Shafer and Brad Keffaber were the story of the final frame as they scored eight points each, more than half of 25 fourth quarter Squire points.
When all was said and done, Manchester had bounced back from its loss to Southwood Tuesday night by annihilating Wabash 92-34.
"I felt like last night (against Southwood) we weren't ourselves," said Goshert. "We wanted to get back on the right track mentally and effort wise and I think we did that tonight. Our whole emphasis was to prepare for the game tonight and put forth a tremendous effort."
Shafer and Fawcett led the Squires with 15 points and three assists each. Shafer also pulled down seven boards and seven steals while Fawcett added four rebounds and five steals.
Reimer also scored in double figures, shooting 3 of 3 from three point land with 13 points , six assists, two steals and one rebound in just three quarters of play for Manchester.
Barry Gahl led the Apaches with 10 points, two assists, and two steals.
In the end, Manchester dominated both offensively and defensively as they tripled Wabash's rebounds, nearly tripled the Apaches' score and more than doubled Wabash's assists.
"We did well on the defensive end of the court, the guys committed and worked hard," said Goshert. "They executed offensively as well.
"We did what we wanted to do in this game. But if you look at the overall picture in the tournament, we did not accomplish what we wanted to.
"It's always difficult to play a consolation game, but its worse if you fail to perform like you wanted to."
Manchester 92 Wabash 34
Manchester 16 23 28 25 - 92
Wabash 2 8 12 12 - 34
Manchester FG FT R A S Pts.
Swan 3-7 1-2 3 4 3 8
Reimer 5-8 0-0 1 6 2 13
Betten 4-8 0-0 5 2 0 8
Hendrix 2-3 0-0 1 2 1 5
Fawcett 7-7 1-1 4 3 5 15
Shafer 6-8 3-4 7 3 2 15
Lochner 3-5 2-6 2 0 0 8
Little 1-2 0-0 1 3 0 2
Keffaber 5-7 0-1 2 2 1 10
Young 2-3 2-2 2 3 2 8
TOTALS 38-58 9-16 27 28 15 92
Wabash FG FT R A S Pts.
G. Gahl 3-9 0-0 2 3 1 7
Vinson 1-4 0-0 2 1 0 2
Fairchild 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
Shripka 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2
Stout 1-4 0-0 0 0 1 2
Lundy 1-2 0-0 2 1 0 2
Gorman 0-1 0-0 1 2 0 0
Sloan 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Ripple 3-5 1-2 2 2 0 8
Stensland 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
B. Gahl 4-7 0-0 0 2 2 10
Nordman 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1
Sundheimer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Strack 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 14-37 2-4 9 12 5 34
Three-point goals -ÊManchester 7-8 (Reimer 3-3, Swan 1-1, Hendrix 1-1, Young 2-3), Wabash 4-9 (B. Gahl 2-4, G. Gahl 1-2, Lundy 0-1, Ripple 1-2). Turnovers -ÊManchester 12, Wabash 29. Fouled out -Ênone. Total fouls - Manchester 7, Wabash 13.
