Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH MANCHESTER - People at Manchester College haven't been this excited about basketball since 1995 when the Spartans went to the championship game of the NCAA Division III National Tournament in Buffalo, New York.
Now in 1999, Manchester has once again made it into the Sweet Sixteen and the Spartans are fully prepared to push themselves to the limit to live up to their predecessors' legend.
But the road to the finals will not be a smooth one. In order to advance to the Great Eight, the Manchester squad must defeat the 26-2 University of Wisconsin-Platteville team in Franklin today.
Ironically, UW-Platteville defeated the Spartans in the 1995 championship game and was the only team that defeated the Spartans that year.
The 1995 season is in the past, however, and today's Spartans are looking to tonight's game with serious anticipation.
"We are going to keep doing the three things that have enabled us to get to this point in the season," said Manchester head coach Jamie Matthews. "Number one, we need to defend them, not let them get any easy baskets. We also need to be very physical.
"Second, we need to rebound the basketball and limit our opponents to one shot. We need to rebound offensively and defensively. Our goal will be to get more than one shot per possession.
"And last, we need to take care of the ball. They (UW-Platteville) forced 19 or 20 turnovers with their press in their last game, and we want to take care of the ball while attacking their press at the same time."
Antwann Jones, Manchester's leading scorer (19.9 points per game) and rebounder (9.6 rebounds per game), has an idea of what the Spartans need to do to move to the next level in the tournament.
"Defensive intensity is number one," said Jones. "We need to come out intense and focus. I want to take advantage of the fact that they may double- or triple-team me. Our guards are shooting so well that we should be able to keep them off balance."
Carson Harris, who averages 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, and Jeremy Neely, who averages 12.7 points and 2.8 assists per game, also have an idea of what to expect in the tournament.
"The key for us is definitely defense," said Neely. "We need to talk to each other and be aggressive offensively to bring home a win."
"Defense has been our strength all year," said Harris. "If we can keep up the defense, we can keep winning.
"We need to make sure we get everyone matched up on certain switches. Making sure we are matched up where we need to be will be the key to the game," said Harris.
A few of those key matchups will be with Merrill Brunson, who averages 18.5 points per game and 52 percent shooting from the field; Blake Knutson (11.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 53.8 field goal shooting percentage); and Mike Jones, who shoots 59.8 from the field and averages 11.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Although the Spartans know they have their work cut out for them, they have specific goals for Friday's game.
"We want to go in on top of our game," said Jones, "and come out victorious."
"Our kids refuse to lose," said Matthews. "They are confident down the stretch and that is a key to winning ball games."
