Squires Pull Out Thrilling TRC WinNORTH MANCHESTER – Both the Manchester Squires and the Peru Tigers were looking for an upper hand Friday night in their Three Rivers Conference high school boys basketball clash.
The TRC-leading Apaches were tripped up by Tippecanoe Valley on Tuesday night, giving hope to a two-loss Peru squad and a great opportunity for one-loss Manchester with just two conference games remaining after Friday night.
As big as the game was set up on paper, it meant that much more for the Squires as they were celebrating Senior Night. It marked the last home TRC game for seniors Logan Parrett, Brayden Casper, Kamdyn Lester and Konrad Borgmann – who were freshmen when current Peru head coach Eric Thompson last held the reins there.
The Tigers played spoiler for most of the game, but it would not be decided by an upperclassmen.
After tying the game before the end of regulation and draining a three-point basket with 8.8 seconds left in overtime, it was Manchester sophomore guard Weston Hamby that ensured a thrilling 47-46 win over Peru.
With so much on the line, Manchester coach Mark Underwood felt that they were very much in it for the duration of the game.
“It’s easy for these guys to put too much pressure on themselves because they want it too much,” said Underwood.
“Don’t make it any bigger than it is. If we don’t win this, the sun will come up tomorrow. If we do win, the sun will be a lot brighter tomorrow.”
Manchester (11-7 overall, 6-1 TRC) did not lead at any point in regulation.
“Even when we were down 8, I said ‘you guys will win this game,’” said Underwood. “‘I believe in you. We will do this together; we will find a way.’”
Hamby led all scorers with 14 points, despite being held to 3-of-12 shooting. The four Squire seniors combined for 22 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
For Peru (8-9 overall, 4-3 TRC), senior D.J. Fuller and junior Daunte Majors finished with 10 points each.
The Tigers led by as much as 11, and even with the good defensive performance, it was not enough.
“We needed to adjust to the referees better, and we had a lot of guys with three or four fouls, so we needed to basically get some stuff fixed,” said Thompson.
“We did not take care of the ball late when they came at us with aggression, and they hit the big shot at the end to win it, so, give them all the credit. They have done it to Rochester and now us.”
Thompson and the Tigers will look to move forward as Friday night was the first of a three-game stretch of road games. They face out-of-conference foe Western tonight.
“We lost on Tuesday night (to Twin Lakes), and I was angry,” said Thompson. “Tonight, guys played well with great effort and executed much better. I am very proud of where we are – we just came up one shot shy.”
Peru went 7 of 13 from the free throw line, while Manchester was 16 of 23.
“We need to shoot a lot better than that,” said Thompson.
Manchester will face Columbia City in its final home regular-season game on Tuesday before finishing the following three games on the road.
P 13 15 8 4 6 – 46
M 11 10 8 11 7 – 47
(Scoring)
Peru – Daunte Majors 10, D.J. Fuller 10, Kash Bellar 9, Kade Townsend 8, Michael Chandler 5, Treyden Curtis 2, Matthew Ross 2
Manchester – Mason Hamby 14, Brayden Casper 8, Kamdyn Lester 7, Thane Creager 7, Logan Parrett 4, Konrad Borgmann 3, Caleb Stout 2, Max Carter 2
Records: Peru 8-9 (4-3 TRC), Manchester 11-7 (6-1 TRC)
