NORTH MANCHESTER - Wawasee High School's boys basketball team took its high-scoring offense on the road Tuesday night to face the Manchester Squires.
The Warriors scored below their season average but evened their season record at 2-2 as they pulled away early to defeat Manchester 90-58.Wawasee, which came into the game averaging 95 points per game, used a pair of 11-2 runs to pull away to a commanding 30-15 lead after the first quarter.
"We had a long bus trip here tonight in the rain and I was worried a little bit on how they would respond," said Wawasee coach Phil Mishler. "They did a great job. they came out right off the bat and took control and did what they were supposed to do."
The Sticther brothers, Ross and Riley, scored 15 points each to lead the way for Wawasee. Riley held down the inside and used free throws while Ross hit a trio three point shots on the way to their point totals.
"When you play a team like Wawasee in an offense and full-court pressure like that you have to control the ball in the back court," said Manchester coach Gary Goshert. "We didn't do that too well tonight. You have to give Wawasee credit."
The Warriors' defense forced 13 turnovers in the first half. Wawasee held Manchester to just 6-of-20 shooting from the field in the first half.
After trailing 53-28 at the half, the Squires came out in the third quarter went on a 6-0 run to pull within 17 points.
"I think we learned a lesson tonight," said Mishler. "When Manchester cut the lead to 17, the game slowed down and they realized that you can't let up. A 30-point lead is really like a 15-point lead with the type of system we play. No team is going to come out and just give up, we just have to keep at it."
Wawasee went on a 19 -2 run to finish the third quarter and took a 72-39 lead into the final frame.
"We had some individuals give us some good defensive minutes tonight," said Goshert. "Unfortunately we have to play defense as a team and execute on the offense."
Aaron Olinger led Manchester with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. He also shot 2 of 5 from three-point range and pulled down three rebounds.
Ryan Binkley added 12 points to the Squire cause, while Scott Baker added 11 points and four rebounds. Austin Flack and Austin Crockett scored five points each.
Crockett led the Squires with eight rebounds.
Wawasee began to penetrate the lane in the second half as Riley Stichter and Dylan Ringler were able to score on lay-ups.
"We did a nice job of getting the ball inside tonight in the second half," said Mishler. "It was nice to see what we could do when Manchester went into a zone defense. We need to learn when to penetrate and when to spread their defenses out."
Keggan beer added 14 points and had two steals in his first start of the season for Wawasee.
Grant Ruch scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Warriors, while Trevor McKibben finished with seven points, all coming in the third quarter.
Wes Kaiser, Logan Hatfield, Dylan Ringler and Ben Kaylor scored six points each to round out Wawasee's potent scoring attack.
Ringler led all players with 12 rebounds.
The loss dropped Manchester to 0-4. The Squires host Homestead Saturday.
Wawassee will host Whitko Saturday night.
"Coach (Rob( Irwin is proud of where is team is at this point of the season," Mishler said of Whitko. "He came out and scouted us. It is hard to scout a team like this and it should be an interesting game."
