01-29-2005NORTH MANCHESTER – Friday night’s matchup between the host Manchester Squires and No. 8 (3A) Tippecanoe Valley went a long way in determining this year’s Three Rivers Conference champion.
Both teams entered the contest with a 3-0 record in the conference while the Vikings exited as the lone undefeated team in the TRC with a 58-54 victory.
Valley, playing its first game in two weeks since a Jan. 14 win over Rochester, looked rusty at times but did enough in spots to escape.
The Vikings jumped out to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter but slowly saw that lead slip away behind the inspired play of Manchester.
The Squires grabbed their first lead of the game on two Joe Egner free throws with 13.7 seconds left in the first half and went into halftime with a narrow 24-23 lead.
In a seesaw affair, Manchester led as late the 1:06 mark of the third quarter before the Vikings put together an 11-0 run over a three-minute span and held on.
Friday night’s referees went a long way in deciding the contest and by both sidelines’ accounts got it right.
Manchester retained possession on two straight series.
Valley’s Michael Domenico appeared to throw the ball off a Manchester player while falling out of bounds with 23.7 seconds left in the game and the Vikings clinging to a 56-54 lead. Domenico was called out of bounds to keep the ball with the Squires.
Eight seconds later, a scrum ensued after a loose ball with a jump ball being called and possession remaining with Manchester.
Then with 6.5 seconds left, Greg Lengel was whistled for a travel as he spun past a defender in the lane and connected on the nullified basket.
While Manchester’s student cheering section, “The Jungle” and the rest of the Squire faithful, cheered at a potential three-point play, the referee’s frantic waving arms signifying a travel quickly deflated the east end of the Squire gymnasium.
Forced to foul, Egner wrapped up David Lash, who leaked down court and received a long pass from John Gibson.
As calm as a hit man and with just 4.5 seconds left, Lash was true on both attempts from the charity stripe to give Valley its 58-54 final.
Lash led the Vikings in scoring with 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 7 of 11 from the free throw line.
Free throws were a common occurence Friday as both teams were saddled with foul trouble in a tightly officiated contest.
Manchester was whistled for 25 personal fouls, while the Vikings were called for 19.
Three players fouled out, with Manchester’s Brett Williams and Nick Poe and Valley’s Shane Denny forced to ride the pine for the closing minutes.
Poe fouled out with 4:56 left in the contest after scoring 17 points and pulling seven rebounds.
Denny was solid in limited play with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds and four steals. Denny opened the second half by scoring the Vikings’ first six points.
Gibson was the only other player in double digits for Valley with 15 points. Gibson hit two consecutive three pointers midway through the third quarter to wrestle the lead from Manchester at 35-33.
Poe was the main man for Manchester and head coach Gary Goshert. The 6-foot-3 senior forward tallied nine points, five boards and two late steals in the second quarter as the Squires outscored Valley 18-8.
“I’m proud of these kids pulling themselves up by their bootstraps when we got down,” said Goshert of his team’s performance. “They had that opportunity at the end and that’s all you can ask for.”
Had the Squires won, it would have been the second time in as many weeks they knocked off a ranked opponent at home. Manchester defeated then-ranked in 3A Wawasee 54-46 Jan.15.
On the other sidelines, Valley head coach Bill Patrick, who is now six wins away from the 600 mark, felt his team’s long layoff affected their play.
“We didn’t play very well, we did good things when we had to,” said Patrick.
The hall of fame coach was also quick to give Manchester its due credit.
“Manchester plays the best defense of any team we’ve played this year,” said Patrick.
Poe was the only player in double digits for Manchester but the Squires received balance throughout.
Guard Ryan Camp scored eight points while Lengel and Nate Stoops had seven points each. Egner and Williams each had six points.
With the win, Valley is now 4-0 in the TRC with three conference games remaining against Oak Hill (Feb 5.), at North Miami (Feb. 10) and at home against Southwood (Feb. 18) with the three teams sharing a combined record of 10-24. The Vikings, 11-1 overall, travel to West Central Thursday for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff.
The Squires, 6-8 overall and 3-1 in the TRC, travel to Rochester Wednesday for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff.
VALLEY 58, MANCHESTER 54
T. Valley 15 8 18 17 – 58
Manch 6 18 14 16 – 54
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Denny 5-6 1-2 7 4 11
*Gibson 3-9 7-10 3 0 15
*Lash 5-6 7-11 4 0 17
*Kindig 1-1 1-2 0 0 3
*Drudge 3-10 0-0 5 1 6
Domenico 1-2 0-0 1 0 3
Reed 1-1 1-2 0 0 3
Totals 19-35 17-27 20 5 58
Manch. FG FT R S Pts.
*Camp 2-5 3-4 1 4 8
*Egner 2-12 2-3 3 3 6
*Poe 7-12 2-2 7 3 17
*Lengel 3-14 0-2 9 2 7
*Williams 3-4 0-0 2 0 6
Stoops 3-4 0-0 1 0 7
Bourne 0-2 0-1 2 1 0
Briner 1-1 0-0 0 0 3
Totals 21-54 7-12 25 13 54
Three-point goals – T. Valley 3-5 (Gibson 2-3, Domenico 1-2), Manchester 5-15 (Briner 1-1, Stoops 1-1, Lengel 1-3, Poe 1-4, Egner 0-4, Camp 1-1, Bourne 0-1). Turnovers – T. Valley 19, Manchester 17. Fouls – T. Valley 19, Manchester 25. Fouled out – Poe (Manchester), Denny (T. Valley), Williams (Manchester).
JV – T. Valley 32, Manchester 21
Valley scoring –ÊAdam Nelson 9, Tadd Neely 6, Steven Tillman 5, Chad Hoffer 4, Jerrod Parker 3, O.B. Thompson 2, Adam Martin 2, Brady Kinsel 1
Manchester scoring – Brian Runkel 8, Justin Moore 4, Aaron Medley 3, Brandon Shepherd 2, Lucas Renz 2, Zach Sieves 2