Manchester’s Parker Hayslip pushed the ball up the floor at fast pace in action from the Greyhounds’ 59-41 sectional championship win over South Gallia on February 24. Hayslip scored 17 points as the Hounds improved to 15-9 on the season and advanced to the Division IV District Tournament. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Strong finish sends Manchester to Athens
Manchester’s Drew Kennedy (22) finds his path tot he basket obstructed by the long arms of a South Gallia defender in play form Saturday’s Division IV sectional title game at Piketon. With a big second half, Kennedy led the Hounds with 18 points. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The last time the blue and gold of Manchester High School graced the hardwood of the Ohio University Convocation Center was in 2012. That will change this weekend. In 2012, it was Coach Aaron Lockhart’s Greyhounds at the Convo and now in 2024 it will be Lockhart’s brother-in-law, Austin Kingsolver, leading the Hounds back to Athens.
How did that happen? Well on Saturday night at host Piketon High School, Kingsolver and his squad punched their ticket to OU and the Division IV district tournament by knocking off the South Gallia Rebels 59-41. The Greyhounds used a combined 35 points from Parker Hayslip and Drew Kennedy along with a huge 14-2 run to end the game, giving them the opportunity to cut down the nets as a Division IV sectional champion.
“This is big for our kids,” said Coach Kingsolver in his postgame radio spot. “I was a senior in high school the last time that Manchester won a sectional. At the beginning of the year we knew this was attainable, this is a good group of kids who play hard and are very coachable. We watched a lot of film on South Gallia and knew they would be very physical but I think we matched that in the second half for the most part.”
“Our fans gave us a lot of energy and our kids enjoy when people come to watch them.”
In Saturday’s match up, the Hounds got off to a slow start as the Rebels jumped to a 6-0 advantage in the first three minutes before the first Manchester points came on a short Kennedy jumper at the 4:51 mark. That was followed by four quick points from Hayslip and the game was tied at 6. A bucket by Elijah Crabtree with 30 seconds left in the opening period gave the Hounds their first lead at 10-8.
Kennedy exited the game early in the second quarter with his second foul, but the rest of the Hounds’ lineup stepped up and secured a double digit lead deep into the second frame. The Rebels momentarily regained the lead at 15-14 on a three-point play by Tanner Boothe, but the advantage quickly went back to the #7 seeded Greyhounds with a pair of Braylon Rickett free throws and a Hayslip three-ball. The Hounds continued to build their lead behind a bucket from Connor Darnell and off the bench, a trey by Luke Applegate. A jumper by Crabtree pushed the Manchester lead to 28-18 before the Rebs scored the final four points of the half to slice the deficit to six at the break.
The third quarter turned into a horse race, back and forth action at breakneck speed. The Rebels got the first four points of the second half to pull within two and eventually tied the score at 32 on a pair of Gabe Frazee free throws. Back to back buckets by Kennedy and Hayslip gave the lead back to Manchester and another Hayslip three pushed the lead out to 39-32.
South Gallia answered with two buckets, and again the Hounds responded with two Kennedy layups. A runner in the lane late in the lane late in the quarter from Leland Horner kept Manchester up 45-39 as the two teams headed to the decisive final period of action.
That final period of action turned out to be all Greyhounds. After the Rebels got the fist basket of the fourth quarter, they were blanked the remainder of the game, a combination of their own frustration and a stingy Manchester defense. In the past, the Hounds have had issues closing out games but not 0n this night. With Kennedy snagging four easy baskets and Hayslip draining three from the charity stripe, the Greyhounds ended the game on a 14-0 run, effectively putting away the Rebels in dominant fashion, cutting down the nets as sectional champions after the 59-41 triumph.
After battling foul trouble in the first half, Drew Kennedy bounced back with a 16-point second half to lead the Hounds with his 18-point total. Right behind Kennedy was sophomore guard Parker Hayslip, who scored 17 for the winning Hounds. Elijah Crabtree and Connor Darnell each scored 6 as the Greyhounds improved to 15-8 overall and advanced to the Division IV district tourney.
“Drew runs the floor very well, he’s long and athletic,” said Kingsolver. “He’s not as physical as some other bigs but he runs the floor better. We play better when Parker plays better. He brings us a lot of energy on the court.”
South Gallia ends their season at 13-10 and they were led in scoring by Tanner Boothe’s 17 points with Gabe Frazee adding 16.
The Greyhounds will make their return trip to the Convo on Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m. where they will face a familiar foe in fellow Southern Hills Athletic Conference member Fairfield. The Lions reached the district semis with a convincing win over Whiteoak. The two teams met twice in the regular season with Fairfield taking both contests, 52-44 on December 1 and 70-35 on January 12.
“Our kids are amped up and excited,” said Coach Kingsolver. “We’ll go to work for a week and see what happens.”
South Gallia
8 14 17 2 —41
Manchester
10 18 17 14 —59
S. Gallia (41): Frazee 6 4-6 16, Stanley 2 2-2 6, Boothe 6 5-5 17, Sanders 1 0-0 2, Team 15 11-13 41.
Manchester (59): Hayslip 5 5-6 17, Roberts 2 1-2 5, Darnell 3 0-0 6, Rickett 0 2-2 2, Applegate 1 0-0 3, Kennedy 9 0-0 18, Horner 1 0-0 2, Crabtree 3 0-0 6, Team 24 8-10 59.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (3)- Hayslip 2, Applegate 1
