By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Coming off tough semi-final defeats, the 2022 Holiday Classic boys consolation game matched up two young squads as the Manchester Greyhounds battled the West Union Dragons on the Dragons’ home court. The Dragons came into the consolation contest still looking for their first win of the season while the Greyhounds were looking to snap a six-game losing streak.
It is rare to see a game where one team holds a one-point lead at halftime and then ends up losing by 27 but that is exactly what happened in the December 30 boys consolation battle. West Union was up by one at the intermission, then saw the Greyhounds totally dominate the second half to easily end that losing streak and capture third place in the Classic with a 76-49 victory.
“We talked before the game that we couldn’t take West Union’s record for granted and I think we may have done that in the first half,” said Manchester head coach Austin Kingsolver in a postgame radio interview. “I thought our energy was a lot better in the third quarter, we guarded a lot better, we had some kids hit some shots and we went on a little bit of a run there.”
The first quarter of Friday’s consolation game was a back and forth affair, featuring two ties and nine lead changes. The biggest margin was a 6-2 Manchester lead, quickly erased when West Union got buckets from Billy Flaugher and Trae Grooms. A later three-pointer from Gavin Jarvis put the Dragons up 9-8 and the host team took a 14-12 lead on a Flaugher trey with a minute left in the frame. Manchester reclaimed the lead on a basket by freshman Elijah Crabtree but a two-pointer by Jarvis left the Dragons on top 16-15 after one.
The second period was much of the same with the Dragons getting back to back threes from Jarvis to take the game’s biggest lead to that point at 26-21. One of the keys to the eventual Manchester victory was the three-point shooting of another freshman, Parker Hayslip, and the first of his five triples on the night pulled his team back within two.
With 30 seconds left in the half, Hayslip hit another corner three to tie the game at 29 and after a pair of Connor Darnell free throws gave the Hounds the lead, a three-ball at the buzzer by Flaugher sent the Dragons to the locker room with a one-point advantage at 32-31.
Whatever momentum that West Union may have gained from the Flaugher buzzer-beater evaporated rapidly when the two teams took the court after the halftime break. The Greyhounds came racing out of the break and totally turned the game around by scoring the first 14 points of the third quarter, a run that began with a Hayslip three-pointer and ended with a put back bucket from Drew Kennedy. That spurt flipped the scoreboard for good, as the Hounds swapped a one-point deficit for a 13-point lead at 45-32.
The Dragons temporarily regained some composure with a fall away Jarvis three and later cut the lead back to single digits on a three-point play from Colby Harover, but the Greyhounds closed the third quarter with an 8-1 run, culminated by a stick back score at the horn by Aaron Lucas for a 56-40 lead.
To make matters worse for the West Union squad, the Hounds began the final quarter with a 9-0 run to blow the game wide open. That run culminated with another Hayslip three that gave hims team a commanding 65-40 advantage. As the minutes wound down, the Hounds got a couple of buckets from Darnell, another from Leland Horner and a fifth Hayslip trey. West Union got a late three-pointer from Tegan Knox but in the end it was a third place win running away for Coach Kingsolver and his Greyhounds.
“I think we still have a long way to go,” said Coach Kingsolver. “We have to improve defensively in every aspect and hopefully we can get there by the end of the year.”
The Manchester representative on the Classic All-Tournament Team and he paced a quartet of Greyhounds in double figures with 22 points. With all his points coming from behind the three-point line, Parker Hayslip scored 15, while Drew Kennedy added 11 and Leland Horner 10.
“Parker has played really well for our varsity since he moved up, he can stroke it,” said Kingsolver. “We challenge Drew and Leland every week as they are our two big guys inside per se- they have to play hard and rebound for us to be successful. We ask a lot from Connor and he does a lot of really good things.”
From West Union, sophomore Gavin Jarvis was named to the All-Tournament Team and led his team in the consolation game with 20 points. Billy Flaugher also hit double figures with 14.
The win improved the Greyhounds to 3-7 on the season and they will be back in action on Friday, January 6, traveling to Whiteoak in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. A quick turnaround will see the Hounds traveling to Sciotoville East for a Saturday, January 7 afternoon contest.
The loss dropped West Union to 0-8 on the year with a trip to Sciotoville East in non-conference play scheduled for Wednesday, January 4 and a return to SHAC play two nights later, hosting first-place Fairfield.
Greyhounds 76
Dragons 49
Manchester
15 16 25 20 —76
West Union
16 16 8 9 —49
Manchester (76): Hayslip 5 0-0 15, Roberts 1 2-2 4, Darnell 7 7-7 22, Bayless 0 2-2 2, Kennedy 5 1-2 11, Horner 5 0-0 10, Crabtree 3 0-0 6, Lucas 3 0-3 6, Team 29 12-16 76.
W. Union (49): Harover 1 2-5 4, Harding 0 1-2 1, B. Grooms 1 0-0 2, Davis 0 1-2 1, Knox 1 0-0 3, T. Grooms 1 2-3 4, Jarvis 7 2-7 20, Flaugher 6 0-0 14, Team 17 8-19 49.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (6)- Hayslip 5, Darnell 1
W. Union (7)- Jarvis 4, Flaugher 2, Knox 1