NORTH MANCHESTER – The Lakeland Christian Academy boys basketball team was four minutes away from getting it's first win of the season Tuesday at Manchester, but a 14-4 run by the host Squires put an end to that goal. Tied at 29-29 with four minutes remaining, the Squires' (2-6) offense finally clicked, leading to the 43-33 win over the Cougars (0-9). "We had some breakdowns defensively," LCA coach Lee Compson said. "We were playing our best defense of the last two years for a good three quarters. Then, we just broke down. I don't know if it was fatigue, but we had some individual breakdowns and gave them about three open layups and that was the difference." The win was Manchester's second straight, after defeating Southwood 60-54 Friday in the consolation game of the Wabash County Tournament at Northfield High School. Following their first win of the season, one would have thought the Squires would be feeling pretty good coming into a home game against an LCA team that had lost 11-straight, but that wasn't the case. "These guys were puckered pretty tight tonight," Manchester coach Eric Thompson said. "There were all kinds of issues that could have come into play, including Lakeland Christian coming to play." In the possession-oriented contest, the biggest moment of the game came with 3:13 remaining. Leading 32-29, Manchester senior Caleb Thomas missed the second of two free throws, but senior Logan Brunn grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back in for a 34-29 lead, a large margin at that point. "He does a lot of things for us," Thompson said about Brunn, who led the Squires with 14 points and 11 rebounds. "He does a lot of leadership things for us and also does a good job on the boards, and that was a big one." And while Manchester was getting the late-game layups, 6-foot-6 LCA junior Calvin Prinsen was on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 4:04 left in the game. Battling foul trouble, Prinsen recorded five blocked shots and nabbed seven rebounds, but scored just six points on 2-of-5 shooting, 0 of 1 in the second half. "He only got one shot in the second half, and we have to do a lot better job than that," Compson said. LCA was led by junior Collin Price's eight points, while seniors Josh Silveus and John Rohrs each scored seven. "In the past four games, we've been improving in increments," Compson said. "We just have to learn how to win. Sometimes that's a long process, but we're getting there." The Squires seem to be learning to win after getting off to an 0-6 start, getting eight points from senior Derek Self in their latest victory, as well as six from sophomore Noah Johnson. "We have nine, 10 guys that can all do a lot of things, but we don't have a dominant player," Thompson said. "Whoever is ready to play that night, and has put the best foot forward during practice, is going to get the nod." Both teams are back in action Friday, as Manchester returns to Three Rivers Conference play at home against North Miami, while LCA travels to Elkhart Christian.
MANCHESTER 43, LAKELAND CHRISTIAN 33 L 6 9 8 10 – 33 M 6 13 7 17 – 43 Manchester – Derek Self 3-8 2-2 8, Caleb Thomas 1-5 1-2 3, Clayton Petrie 0-3 3-4 3, Logan Brunn 3-11 8-11 14, Phoenix Goad 2-3 0-0 4, Micah McDaniel 0-0 0-0 0, Claudel Dickantone 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Schuler 1-4 0-0 2, Connor McLaughlin 1-4 0-0 3, Neil Underwood 0-2 0-0 0, Dalton Day 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Johnson 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 14-43 14-19 43. LCA – Collin Price 0-6 8-10 8, Chris Silveus 2-3 0-0 4, Josh Silveus 3-5 1-2 7, Billy Pitts 0-1 0-0 0, Calvin Prinsen 2-5 2-4 6, Teddy Harvey 0-1 0-0 0, John Rohrs 3-6 0-0 7, Sam Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Zarek Finley 0-4 1-2 1, Logan Pitts 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Cole 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-31 12-18 33. Three-point goals – Manchester 1-8 (McLaughlin), LCA 1-7 (Rohrs); Turnovers – Manchester 16, LCA 17; Team Fouls (fouled out) – Manchester 18, LCA 21 (J. Silveus); Rebounds – Manchester 28 (Brunn 11), LCA 14 (Prinsen 7); Assists – Manchester 7 (Petrie 2, Johnson 2), LCA 3 (C. Silveus 2); Steals – Manchester 4 (Thomas 2, Petrie 2), LCA 3; Blocks – Manchester 0, LCA 5 (Prinsen 5); Records: Manchester 2-6, LCA 0-9. JV – Manchester 39, LCA 6. Manchester – Lennart Simon 12, Underwood 5, McDaniel 4, Day 4, Lucas Schilling 4, Cody Egner 4, Owen Johnson 3, N. Johnson 3. LCA – L. Pitts 4, Cole 2.
