AKRON - A negative trend of playing strong for a period of time, then falling off, recurred for the Manchester Squires boys varsity basketball team Friday.
Playing a Three Rivers Conference game at Tippecanoe Valley, Manchester opened the contest hitting 5 of 8 three-pointers, but missed its next 12 en rout to a 63-37 loss."From the tapes I've seen, that's kind of the way they've played this season," Valley coach Bill Patrick said about Manchester. "They play pretty well, then kind of let up and let the other team go on a run. They did that a couple times tonight."
By missing just three of their first eight treys, Manchester (2-13, 0-6 TRC) trailed just 19-17 with 7:40 to play in the second quarter. However, the Squires didn't hit another field goal until the 5:38 mark in the third quarter, allowing Valley (7-6, 3-1 TRC) to increase its lead to 33-19.
"In our last three games, we've started out really well," first-year Manchester coach Aaron Cripe said. "You can say we stopped hitting our shots, but I'm not mad about missing shots. I'm mad about our defense. A 9-0 run (happens), because of defense. You can not score, but if you stop the other team from scoring, they can't go on a run."
To Cripe's chagrin, Valley used five different runs of at least six points to pull away for the easy victory.
The defensive lapses may come as a result of a two-win season, where good things have been few and far between for the Squires.
"We preach 'Believe to Win,' and I believe they can win," Cripe said. "We know, physically, they can win. Winning is contagious and so is losing. Right now, we have to get over that hump. We just need to beat a good team. We need to beat a team we're not supposed to beat, and that might get us going mentally."
Getting kids to overcome a losing mentally isn't just for first-year coaches, as Valley's 41-year veteran coach has had to do the same thing, and done so successfully.
Coming off his first losing season last year, Patrick's Vikings won just two of their first eight games. Since then, Valley's won five straight and finds itself right in the middle of the TRC race.
"We're playing hard and playing more as a team," Patrick said. "For the most part, practices have been more intense. The big thing is, offensively, we're moving the ball better and playing better together.
"We can end up being a pretty decent ball club by the end of the year if we keep improving," he said.
The biggest turnaround for the Vikings has been the play of senior Anthony Tolson, who fought through an ankle injury to score a game-high 21 points Friday.
"It seemed like he was going pretty well tonight," Patrick said of Tolson. "Hopefully, he'll be able to come back and play well Tuesday (against Maconaquah)."
The Maconaquah game will be on the road, and Patrick will be hoping senior Zach Owens also continues to play well after scoring 16 points against the Squires.
In the loss, junior Scott Baker led the Squires with eight points, all coming from the free-throw line, and nine rebounds.
Manchester closes out its TRC season Friday at Northfield.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 63, MANCHESTER 37
M 14 5 6 12 - 37
V 19 9 21 14 - 63
Valley - Bret Cooper 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Owens 7-13 1-2 16, Taylor Burkhart 2-4 0-0 4, Anthony Tolson 8-19 4-6 21, Gus Lukens 1-3 0-0 2, Jacob Ritchey 0-0 2-4 2, Nick Kindig 3-4 0-0 8, Taylor Breeden 1-2 0-3 2, Rob Hoffman 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Littlejohn 2-3 0-1 4, Jared Gordon 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 7-16 63.
Three-point goals - Valley 4 (Kindig 2, Owens, Tolson), Manchester 5 (Lahman 2, McLaughlin 2, Blankenship); Team Fouls - Valley 14, Manchester 15; Turnovers - Valley 8, Manchester 19; Rebounds - Valley 29 (Burkhart 5, Lukens 5), Manchester 20 (Baker 9); Assists - Valley 7 (Tolson 2, Lukens 2), Manchester 4 (Olinger 2), Steals - Valley 8 (Littlejohn 4), Manchester 2; Blocks - Valley 0, Manchester 2 (Baker 2); Records: Valley 7-6 (3-1 TRC), Manchester 2-13 (0-6 TRC)
