Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - In the three full years that Gary Goshert has coached Manchester's boys basketball team, the Squires have lost just one game in the Three Rivers Conference, at Oak Hill in Goshert's first year.
With that in mind, it's easy to see why Goshert constantly says each conference game is special.
Friday night the Squires hosted Southwood, a TRC opponent that came in with a 1-0 record. A team that a week ago Goshert said was the best team in the conference. A team the Squires soundly defeated 64-39 last night.
The win improves Manchester's overall season record to 2-0 and 1-0 in the TRC. The Knights fall to 1-1 and 0-1 in league play.
After the game Goshert was asked if he would stand by that statement.
"I still think they're one of the best," said Goshert. "I'm not sure where we stand. I feel fortunate for what we did tonight. The defensive end of the floor was pretty good. We had a couple big keys coming in. We wanted to defend the post area and not let them go crazy on the offensive glass. We scored enough, and we had an advantage at halftime."
While Manchester's offense was 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) in the first half, the Knights shot a dismal 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) from the field.
All three of Southwood's field goals came in the opening quarter. In the second stanza the Knights struggled through an 0-of-7 shooting performance and made good on just one charity toss.
Goshert said it wasn't that Southwood wasn't getting looks, they just weren't going in.
"They're a good shooting team," said Goshert. "They normally make more. They never got it down to nine in the second half. We got some ball movement and we were able to shoot the three."
The Squires connected on seven three-point attempts in the win. Klay Bechtold was 4 of 6 beyond the arc, going 4 of 4 in the second half.
Manchester senior Lee Shafer led all scorers with 15 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds and made two steals. Bechtold and David Bazzoni added 12 and 10 points respectively in the win.
The Knights had one player score in double figures, Brandon Ehret, who did not start, with 10. Nick Dawson and Shawn Zellers added seven points each in the loss.
Shafer scored the game's first two points, and a Kedric Miller field goal at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter gave the Squires a 6-1 lead. The Knights never held a lead in the contest but trailed only 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Manchester started the second stanza with a 12-0 run that pushed the lead to 22-9 before senior Jeremy Jones hit a free throw at the 1:40 mark. The Knights were outscored 15-1 in the second quarter and trailed 25-10 at the break.
Southwood turned the ball over six times in the second quarter, while Manchester turned the ball over two times in the second eight minutes.
"Give our kids some credit for that," said Goshert. "They (Southwood) did get some shots. If some of them go in, it's a dog fight. We have to be realistic, they're a good team."
The Squires outscored the Knights 21-13 in the third quarter and 18-16 in the final frame to account for the 25-point win.
"We knew this was TRC week," said Goshert. "There are other good teams in the conference, but this was one of the best. It feels good to start defending."
Manchester, winner of the TRC the past three years, will continue to defend its title when it travels to Rochester Friday for a 6:15 p.m. junior varsity tipoff.
MANCHESTER 64
SOUTHWOOD 39
Southwood (1-1) 9 1 13 16 - 39
Manchester (2-0) 10 15 21 18 - 64
Southwood FG FT R S Pts.
Ehret 3-8 3-4 2 1 10
Jones 0-3 1-2 1 1 1
Perigo (G) 0-2 2-2 1 0 2
Bassett 1-4 0-0 2 1 2
Writght (G) 1-5 1-2 2 0 4
Marshall (G) 0-4 0-0 2 0 0
Eltztroth 0-0 3-4 2 1 3
Dawson (F) 1-5 2-2 2 1 4
Zellers (C) 3-6 1-2 2 1 7
Hoffman 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Eckman 2-6 0-0 5 1 6
Total 11-44 13-18 21 7 39
Manchester FG FT R S Pts.
Bechtold 4-6 0-0 2 1 12
Bazzoni (G) 3-9 2-2 2 2 10
Frieden (G) 2-6 2-2 5 2 6
Miller (G) 2-7 0-0 5 0 4
Shafer (F) 7-13 1-2 7 2 15
Kerr (F) 4-7 0-0 8 0 9
Lochner 2-3 2-2 2 0 6
A. Sorg 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
M. Sorg 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Stoops 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Dale 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Haynes 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Totals #24-53 7-9 32 7 64
Three-pointers - Southwood 4 (Eckman 2, Ehret 1, Wright 1), Manchester 7 (Bechtold 4, Bazzoni 2, Kerr 1). Turnovers - Southwood 14, Manchester 15. Fouls - Southwood 15, Manchester 15. Fouled out - Dawson
JV - Southwood 38, Manchester 36
Manchester scoring - Dustin Simcoe 12, Todd Dale 12, Matt Stoops 8, Anthony Sorg 2, Heath Haynes 2
