NORTH MANCHESTER – Drawing a bye in the opening round, the Manchester Squires were vying for a spot in Saturday’s sectional championship game on their home floor. Their Wabash County rival, Southwood, was standing in their way and the Squires would have hoped to avenge their December loss to the Knights. Southwood, however, proved to still have the Squires’ number. Manchester senior Chase Fierstos had a game-high 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but it was not enough as Southwood took care of business in a 62-50 win over the Squires Friday night in Class 2A Sectional 35 semifinal action in North Manchester. “Give Southwood all kinds of credit, they did a great job with their game plan,” said Manchester head coach Eric Thompson. “We just couldn’t get into the flow of how the game was being called and Southwood did a great job of that.” In their final games wearing the black and red, Braydon Sewell finished with three points and grabbed four rebounds while Keelan Norwood finished with two points and seven rebounds in the loss. Seniors Zach Hill and Matthew Pegg did not score in their final high school game. “With Chase, Keelan, Braydon, Matthew and Zach all coming back out their senior year, it just showed what kind of men they are,” said Thompson. “All of them are going to be great representatives of the Manchester community and I am so happy to be their coach.” Out of the gate, the Squires went up 5-2, but the Knights took over with a 14-1 run to close out the first quarter. Turnovers had kept the game manageable in the first half for the Squires, yet they were guilty of committing more mistakes than Southwood. The Knights made 48 percent of their shots to Manchester’s 30 percent and turned the ball over five times to Manchester’s eight. The third quarter was overall quiet in terms of scoring, yet the Squires were able to trim their deficit to six on a couple of occasions in the quarter. “They never gave up,” said Thompson. “We kept trying to cut into their lead, but credit to Southwood for keeping us at bay.” Things got interesting in the same period when a missed goal tend call against Southwood drew the ire of the Manchester players, coaches, student body and fans. A second missed call moments later led to a technical foul that was assessed to Thompson as he was making his case to the officials. By game’s end, the Squires’ defense tightened a bit and limited the Knights to 6-of-25 shooting from the floor in the final two quarters. They outrebounded Southwood 39-32 and overall shot 37 percent from the field to their 36. “We were able to get things we wanted on time and on target but we just couldn’t get the ball through the hoop,” said Thompson. “With their height and size, not allowing us to get to the free throw line when we get bumped going to the basket, we had to have more concentration to get the ball to the basket and we did not. They did, and they won." They had kept 6-6 senior Alex Harmon, an IU-South Bend basketball commit, mum with just seven points for the game despite his eight rebounds and five blocks. It turned out to be no problem as teammates Brandin Frazier (20 points, 7 rebounds), Carson Blair (16 points, 2 rebounds, 4 steals) and Peyton Trexler (15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) took care of the rest in his stead. Manchester’s campaign ended with a 13-10 overall record and. Southwood’s victory pushed its win total to 20, the highest number in program history. The Knights will play defending sectional champion Oak Hill tonight in the title tilt.
SOUTHWOOD 62, MANCHESTER 50 Man 6 13 7 24 – 62 SW 16 12 12 22 – 50 Manchester – Chase Fierstos 11-25 2-2 26, Braydon Sewell 1-1 0-0 3, David McAtee 3-5 0-2 7, Koehl Fluke 4-14 0-0 8, Keelan Norwood 1-2 0-0 2, Mason Hamby 0-4 0-0 0, Levi Hicks 0-3 1-2 1, Zach Hill 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Schannep 1-1 0-0 3, Kane Gable 0-1 0-0 0, Matthew Pegg 0-0 0-0 0, Heath Diercks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 3-6 50. Southwood – Peyton Trexler 6-12 3-5 15, Alex Harmon 3-11 1-3 7, Brandin Frazier 4-9 12-14 20, Carson Blair 4-11 5-8 16, Matthew Nose 0-2 2-2 2, Jeremy Findle 0-0 0-0 0, Dallas Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Ethen Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Blke Martz 0-2 2-2 2, Christian Deeter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 25-34 62. Three-pointers – Manchester 5 (Fierstos 2, Sewell, McAtee, Schannep), Southwood 3 (Blair 3); Rebounds – Manchester 39 (Fierstos 8), Southwood 32 (Harmon 8); Turnovers – Manchester 20, Southwood 15; Fouls – Manchester 24, Southwood 12; Fouled out – Fierstos, Sewell, Norwood; Records: Manchester 13-10, Southwood 20-4
