Manchester’s Zander White (20) goes up for a first half shot attempt in the Greyhounds’ loss to East Clinton on Friday, December 3. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Ryland Wikoff elevates over an East Clinton defender looking for a charge in this action from last Friday night at MHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A defensive struggle that came down to the final seconds. That best describes the action on Friday, December 3 at the Hound Pound in Manchester as Coach Greg Scott and his Greyhounds hosted the East Clinton Astros, the second non-conference game the Hounds played to open their 2021-22 campaign. The game was sharp at time and sloppy at times, but ultimately was decided with 9.5 seconds left on the clock when a three-pointer by East Clinton’s Landon Runyon gave the Astros a 50-48 victory.
It was a tough night all around offensively for the Greyhounds, as the Astros defense was smothering, forcing numerous turnovers and not allowing Manchester;s leading scorer, Isaiah Scott, to get any good looks. Scott came into Friday night’s contest needing 23 points to reach the 1.000 mark for his career, but was held to 10 by the Astros, all of those in the first half.
“This really should have been a ‘W’ for us, it should have been,” said Coach Scott after the loss. “We made some mistakes but we’re going to learn from them and get better and get prepared for our next game. Free throws were horrible for us tonight (3-8) and you can’t do that in a close game and we have to fix the turnovers. We fumbled the ball around too much, especially in the first half.”
“They doubled up on Isaiah all night and he got frustrated and I told him not to force things and he just really clammed up and didn’t shoot at all after that, but he’s going to have to be prepared to be defended like that.”
The Hounds got off to a quick start, baskets by Brayden Young, Daulton McDonald, and Scott giving them a quick 6-2 advantage. The Astros rallied with a Runyon trey giving them their first lead at 7-6, but a three-pointer banked home by McDonald and another at the buzzer by Leland Horner gave the home team a 12-11 lead after one quarter.
That late Horner three was the beginning of a Manchester run as the Hounds tallied the first seven points of the second period, a Ryland Wikoff basket giving them a 19-11 lead. A three-ball from East Clinton’s Justin Arnold broke a three-minute scoring drought for the visitors, but another McDonald three, a Zander White free throw, and a bucket by Scott pushed the Manchester lead to double digits at 27-15 with three minutes left in the first half. That turned out to be the widest margin of the game as the Astros rallied to score the final seven points of the first half to slice the Manchester lead to 27-22 at halftime.
As the third quarter progressed, the Hounds slowly built their lead back, increasing it back to nine points at 36-27 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Logan Bell. The action went long distance for the final minutes of the third, with East Clinton getting three-point goals from Runyon and Mateo Jostak, while the Hounds got an acrobatic running three from the corner at the buzzer by McDonald to give the Hounds a 39-35 lead as the fourth quarter began.
McDonald struck again on the Hounds’ first possession of the final period, and again from beyond the arc to give the home team a seven-point cushion. A later three-pointer by Runyon cut the gap to 44-40 and set up an exciting final five minutes of basketball.
The Runyon trey began an 8-0 run for the Astros, giving them their first lead since the first quarter at 45-44 with 3:15 to play. The Greyhounds responded with a basket by McDonald and a strong putback from Aaron Lucas to reclaim the lead at 48-45, with 1:10 to go, but the Lucas bucket turned out to be the last for the home side.
Two free throws by Runyon with less than a minute left pulled East Clinton within one and the Hounds held the ball until McDonald was fouled with 29.9 seconds left. The Manchester senior missed the front end of the bonus situation, giving the Astros the opportunity to go back in front which they did when Runyon nailed a three from the top of the key with just 9.5 seconds left on the clock. The Greyhounds set up a final play looking for the win and the ball changed hands several times, finally ending up with Isaiah Scott, who was double teamed and could only manage an off-balance shot attempt at the horn that was off the mark and the Astros had escaped with the two-point road triumph.
“We have to get better, work on the turnovers, and get more effective on offense,” said Coach Scott. “We’ll get things fixed and this is just the beginning of the season, not the end.”
Victorious East Clinton placed three players in double figures, led by 15 points from Mateo Jostak, with Jared Smith adding 14 and Landon Runyon 13.
Manchester fell to 1-1 with the loss and the Hounds were led in scoring by Daulton McDonald’s 17 points, a total that included four three-point baskets. Isaiah Scott also hit double figures with his 10 first-half points.
Coach Austin Kingsolver made his debut on Friday night as the Manchester JV coach and it was a successful start as the JV hounds routed East Clinton, 54-23. The Manchester JV were led in scoring by Drew Kennedy’s 14 points, with Braylan Roberts adding 12, Connor Darnell 11, and Karson Reaves 7.
The Hounds got a week off to get back on the practice floor and make corrections before they open up Southern Hills Athletic Conference play on Friday, December 10 with a trip to Ripley to face the Blue Jays, who opened their conference slate with an impressive 66-58 road win at Peebles. Manchester will be back at home on Saturday, December 11 for another non-conference affair, hosting the Western Latham Indians.
East Clinton
11 11 13 15 —50
Manchester
12 15 12 9 —48
E. Clinton (50): McClure 1 0-0 2, Smith 6 2-4 14, Runyon 3 4-6 13, Jostak 5 4-6 15, Arnold 1 0-0 3, Team 16 10-16 50.
Manchester (48): McDonald 6 1-3 17, Wikoff 2 0-0 4, Young 3 0-0 6, Z. White 0 1-2 1, Horner 1 0-0 3, Bell 2 1-1 5, Scott 5 0-0 10, Lucas 1 0-2 2, Team 20 3-8 48.
Three-Point Goals:
E. Clinton (5)- Runyon 3, Jostak 1, Arnold 1
Manchester (5)- McDonald 4, Horner 1
