By Mark Carpenter-
A tough season for first-year head coach Greg Scott and the Manchester Greyhounds came to an abrupt ending on Wednesday, Feb. 20 as the Greyhounds traveled to Northwest High School for a first round Division IV sectional tournament match up with the Sciotoville East Tartans. The two teams had met earlier in the season on the Tartans’ home court with East claiming a 75-60 win, but Wednesday night was to be a different story.
Playing with their season on the line, the Hounds hung right with their favored opponents for the entire game, until a late fourth quarter run by the Tartans sent them ahead in the tournament with a well-earned 56-48 victory. The story of the night was East’s Kyle Flannery, who burned the Greyhound defense for 30 points, including the first 19 points of the game for his team.
“It was tough in the locker room after the game, you spend so much time with these kids,” said Coach Scott in his post game radio interview. “They’re like family.”
In his final game in the blue and gold, Manchester senior Jacob Calvert had a nice game with 14 points and a bevy of rebounds and he got the game started with a jumper from the elbow for a quick Greyhound lead. Another Calvert jumper gave the Hounds a 6-4 lead, followed by a three-pointer out of the corner by Kyle Reaves that made it a five-point advantage. The Tartans rallied with five points from Flannery as he personally tied the game at 9 after the first quarter.
The Tartans took the lead when Flannery scored on their first two possessions of the second period, Manchester responding with another Reaves trey and an Isaiah Scott to tie the game again at 13. A pair of Flannery three-pointers pushed East to a 19-15 advantage, but the Hounds again answered, this time with an 11-0 run, fueled by the red-hot Reaves hitting two more from downtown and a bucket by Isaiah Redmon, and quickly the Hounds led 26-19, but just as quickly that lead disappeared.
The Tartans scored the next seven points, finally getting points from someone other than Flannery though the hot-shooting guard did drill a three that tied the game at 26 apiece with 25 seconds left in the first half. The Hounds regained the advantage by halftime on another 15-foot jumper by Calvert, taking a 28-26 lead.
The game remained nip-and-tuck in the third quarter with the Hounds getting four early points from Scott while the Tartans got three-point goals from Flannery and Will Shope, deadlocking the game again at 32. The teams swapped baskets with a floater in the lane by Redmon tying things up again at 36, but a basket by Sean Hollen and a three-point play by Shope gave East the 41-36 advantage heading into the final eight minutes of play.
The Hounds crashed the boards early in the fourth getting stick back buckets from Calvert and Scott sandwiched around a three-pointer by East’s Hollen. With under two minutes to play, baskets by Calvert and Scott cut the East lead to 48-46 but at the point the Manchester offense stalled, playing still without Reaves, who suffered a leg injury earlier in the game and did not return.
In the final minute of the game, the Tartans sealed the win by scoring eight straight, six of those coming from the free throw line and the final Manchester basket of the 2018-19 season came at the buzzer on a Scott put back but it was too little, too late as the late run had propelled East to the 56-48 victory and moved the Tartans into the Division IV sectional title game against New Boston.
In the loss, the Greyhounds (4-18) were led in scoring by freshman Isaiah Scott, who tallied 15 points with senior Jacob Calvert ending his career with 14. Before leaving the game, Kyle Reaves scored 12, all from beyond the three-point arc, while senior Isaiah Redmon added 7. Also in his final game, senior Dylan Colvin was held scoreless, fouling out in the final minutes.
“I’m thankful for our three seniors,” said Coach Scott. “The rest of the team looked up to them and they stepped us as leaders for us. I’m really proud of all three of them.”
Flannery’s 30 points led the Tartans in their win, with Will Shope adding 15.
Manchester
9 19 8 12 —48
Sciotoville East
9 17 15 15 —56
Manchester (48): Redmon 3 1-4 7, Reaves 4 0-0 12, Scott 5 5-6 15, Calvert 6 2-2 14, Team 18 8-12 48.
S. East (56): Shope 4 6-7 15, Carver 0 0-2 2, Coyle 2 0-2 4, Hollen 3 0-0 7, Flannery 10 5-7 30, Team 19 11-18 56.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (4)- Reaves 4
S. East (7)- Flannery 5, Shope 1, Hollen 1