Manchester Squires Aim To End Sectional Title Drought
Posted
Zach Newcomer-znewcomer@timesuniononline.com
NORTH MANCHESTER – The Manchester boys basketball team is looking to do what no Squire team has done since 1995 – win a sectional championship.
Manchester has a couple of things in its favor – three scorers that are averaging double figures and home-court advantage in the sectional.
Senior Mason Hamby leads the team with 15.5 points a contest, while classmate Koehl Fluke holds a 12.2 average.
“Fluke and Hamby have both been a really big part of our successes during each of my two seasons here,” said Manchester coach Mark Underwood. “It is tough to think of not having these two young men on the team next year. I know that the coaching staff and underclassmen will miss these guys next year and therefore want to keep this season going as long as possible.”
Hamby is shooting 89 percent from the free throw line and 54 percent from the field in his final campaign in a Manchester uniform. Fluke scored his 1,000th career point this season for the Squires. The sharpshooter has drained 38 three-pointers.
Freshman Weston Hamby averages 10.5 points a game and leads the team with 1.8 steals a contest. Not too far away from 10 points a game is junior Brayden Casper, who scores 9.8 a contest. As a unit, the Squires are scoring 56.9 points per outing. Manchester is shooting 45 percent from the floor as a team and 33 percent from behind the arc.
Manchester will host Class 2A Sectional 37. The Squires will play Oak Hill in the opening round of the tournament on Tuesday. Rochester and Lewis Cass will be the second game of the doubleheader. Wabash will play the winner of the Oak Hill/Manchester game in Friday’s first semifinal. North Miami will play the winner of the other contest. The sectional championship will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Manchester holds a 7-3 mark this season at home. Two of those losses came in the first two games of the season.
“There is no denying that it’s a plus to play at home, but one of our three home losses was to Oak Hill,” said Underwood.
The team has faced four of the sectional schools this season, holding a 3-1 record. The only team Manchester has not played is Lewis Cass, and they would meet in the sectional championship.
Oak Hill and Manchester played each other in the second game of the season, with the Golden Eagles winning 59-45 in North Manchester. Oak Hill finished second behind Class 2A No. 4 Frankton in the Central Indiana Conference this season.
Manchester is a different team since the Nov. 25 encounter. At the time, the Squires went on to lose the first five games of the season. After the rough start, the team went on to win 11 of its next 14 games. Underwood knows the benefits and downfalls of playing a sectional opponent during the regular season.
“It’s like a double-edged sword,” he said. “We know them better, but they know us better, too. Both teams have changed a lot since the second game of the season.”
The Squires won three sectionals in a four-year span; the streak began in 1992 and their most recent title came in 1995. Manchester had a chance last year to end the drought, but lost 59-49 to Southwood in the championship game.
“The team put the sectional title target on its radar early in the season. “It has been the main goal of our team all year,” Underwood said.
Underwood knows if the team wants to capture the title they will have to defend, rebound, limit turnovers and make shots.
“I like my team and know that they will compete at a high level,” he said. “Anyone who gets in must play well. This will need to be a total team effort.”
