Boys' Basketball Team Drops Two
03 Dec 2008

by Eric Christiansen
As expected, the Manchester Squires are experiencing growing pains to start the 2008-09 basketball season.
The young Squire team opened its season with a 71-45 loss to Mississinewa, followed by a 76-30 loss to Class 2A #5 Oak Hill Saturday night.
Against Mississinewa, the Squires fell behind early and never recovered.
The Indians took a 27-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended that lead to 39-18 at halftime.
“Mississinewa is a very good, athletic team,” Goshert said. “They didn’t lose too much from last year. We had a hard time keeping up with them, but I think we learned a few things tonight.”
Things didn’t get any better for the Squires in the second half as the Indians outscored them 20-7 in the third quarter to take a 59-25 lead.
“Obviously, we are very young, and have a pretty big learning curve right now,” Goshert said. “We are going to have a few bumps in the road along the way, but as long as we learn from them, and continue to focus on playing the game the right way, that’s all we can ask as coaches.”
Scott Baker led the Squires with 13 points and five rebounds, while Ryan Binkley had nine points and four assists.
Aaron Olinger had seven points, Austin Crockett had six points and six rebounds, Aric Howard had four points and four rebounds, Austin Flack had four points, and Coltin Jenks had two points.
Brandon Cragun led Mississinewa with 13 points, while Chris Birky and Josh Cook both had 10 points.
Loss To Oak Hill
Class 2A Oak Hill showed why they are one of the top teams in the state Saturday night against the Squires, and did it in impressive fashion with a 76-30 win.
Manchester didn’t know what hit them in the first three minutes of the game as the Eagles raced out to an 18-0 lead.
“We just didn’t’ handle their pressure very well,” Goshert said. “We had trouble getting the ball inside 15 feet. Oak Hill is a very physical team, and they were stronger than we were physically. They are a pretty experienced team, and that was a big difference in the game.”
Austin Crockett got the Squires on the board with an inside bucket, but Oak Hill kept pouring it on, taking a 23-2 lead.
With the Eagles leading 28-6 with 1:47 left in the first quarter, Manchester put together a run to get back into the game.
Baker scored inside with two seconds left in the first to cut it to 28-8.
Baker scored the first basket of the second quarter, followed by a three point play and another inside basket from Flack to cut the lead to 28-15.
“I was really impressed with how we came back there in the second quarter and made a little run at them,” Goshert said. “It would have been easy to tuck our tails between our legs and go home, but these boys have shown all season that they will not give up. They have a lot of heart, and they showed it tonight.”
Oak Hill responded to Manchester’s run with a 22-0 run that extended into the third quarter to put the game out of reach at 50-15 with 5:59 left in the third.
“The most important thing for this team to remember is that we are a work in progress,” Goshert said. “We saw some good things, and we saw some things that we need to continually work on if we are going to be a good basketball team.”
Baker led Manchester with 11 points and three rebounds, while Flack had 10 points and two rebounds. Crockett had four points and three rebounds, Jenks had three points, and Binkley added two points and four assists.
Five Eagles scored in double figures, led by Eric Doyle’s 10 points.
The Squires travel to Alexandria on Thursday and host Wawasee on Tuesday.