Hayslip hits 1,000, but Indians capture conference win

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It was a memorable night in the career of Manchester Greyhounds senior Parker Hayslip and a productive night for the Peebles Indians as the two teams matched up in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play on January 20 in the Hound Pound. For Hayslip, a second quarter reverse layup made him the newest member of the Manchester 1,000 point club and for the Indians, a 28-point third quarter broke open a close game and propelled them to their 10th win of the season, placing three players in double figures in a 75-56 victory.

The pesky Greyhounds hung right with their visitors throughout the first half and the third quarter before a 14-1 Peebles run to close the third put the Tribe up 19 which ended up being the final margin of victory.

“We knew they would make adjustments from the first time weplayed them,” said Peebles head coach Josh Arey in a postgame radio interview. “They have an outstanding player in Parker Hayslip and they are fundamentally sound so you know what you are going to get when you come here.”

“Our kids play for one another both offensively and defensively and that is what we will have to do when it comes tournament time.”

“I thought we came in prepared to play, competed hard and executed the game plan really well for the majority of the first half,” said Manchester head coach Austin Kingsolver. “We didn’t do a very good job after that of playing at our pace and executing offensively. We got sped up and it turned into easy points for them. Peebles is really solid and hard to guard 1-5.”

The game started very well for the host Greyhounds as they took an early 5-0 lead when Hayslip was fouled attempting a three-point shot and converted all three free throws. After Peebles got on the board with a Paxton Ryan trey, the Hounds extended their lead to 9-3 after a putback bucket by Traevyn Hilderbrand. The Indians answered that with a 10-2 run that gave them their first lead of the game at 13-11. With just 15 seconds left in the first, a bucket by the Hounds’ Braylon Rickett deadlocked the scoreboard at 13 apiece.

Two minutes into the second stanza, a three-pointer from Landon Doyle gave Manchester a 20-17 advantage before a basket by Colyn Sims gave the lead back to Peebles at 21-20. The Greyhounds answered with back to back buckets from Rickett and then when Hayslip drove the left baseline and hit the reverse layup, he had his coveted 1,000 the point and the home team had a 28-21 lead.

“I’, extremely happy and proud of Parker,” said Coach Kingsolver. “In my opinion, there isn’t another player in the league that does what he does for our team. He’s a great young man that deserves every single recognition he receives. The best thing about Parker is that he values winning and our team first. He would give every single point back as long as we win.”

After the game was paused to honor Hayslip’s 1,000th, perhaps the Greyhounds lost a bit of focus as they didn’t score for the final three minutes of the first half. In the meantime, the Indians finished the half on a 10-0 run, finished off by back to back three balls from Josh McClary and Paxton Ryan to take a 31-28 lead into the halftime break.

The contest remained tight through the beginning of the third period, a Hayslip three tying the score at 33. At that point, however, the Indians began what would be a decisive six minutes of basketball, starting with a 6-0 run that began with a coast to coast drive and score from Bo Johnson that gave his team a lead they never relinquished.

After a basket from Luke Applegate pulled the Hounds within four, the Indians went on the warpath, closing out the third quarter with a huge 16-1 run that basically put the outcome in no doubt. There were numerous contributions to the big run, including consecutive three-pointers from Connor Gross and Josh McClary to end the quarter and give the Tribe the commanding 59-40 lead.

“We played defensively in the third quarter about as good as a team can,” said Coach Arey. “Our transition looked good and our halfcourt offense looked good and we just have multiple guys that can score and it’s a blessing to have that.”

The two sides played a dead even final eight minutes, which of course did the Greyhounds little good. The Peebles lead increased to 24 points on a basket by Johnson with just over four minutes to play and the Hounds later got a three-pointer from senior Joel Blythe. The final two scores of the game belonged to Peebles’ Johnson and Kaiden Lerouge as the Indians improved to 10-2 with the 75- 56 triumph.

The Indians were led by the aforementioned three players in double figures, paced by 23 points from sophomore guard Bo Johnson. Senior Paxton Ryan added 18 with junior Josh McClary tossing in 12. Connor Gross only scored 5, but his stat line included 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.

Manchester was led by Braylon Rickett, who poured in a season-high 23 points and also topped the team with 9 rebounds, barely missing a double-double night. Including his 1,000th, Parker Hayslip scored 18 and is averaging 20.5 a game, second in the conference.

“Braylon played really well tonight,” added Coach Kingsolver. “He’s just so gifted as an athlete that he’s really tough to guard.”

Both teams were back in action on Friday night, the Indians trouncing Whiteoak 84-66 to improve to 11-2, while the Greyhounds fell at Fairfield 71-36 to drop to 7-11 for the season.

Box Score

Peebles

13 18 28 16 —75

Manchester

13 15 12 16 —56

Peebles (75): Lerouge 1 0-0 2, Sims 2 3-4 7, Knechtly 3 2-2 8, Gross 2 0-0 5, Johnson 9 5-6 23, Ryan 5 6-6 18, McClary 4 2-4 12, Team 26 18-22 75.

Manchester (56): Hayslip 5 7-8 18, Doyle 2 0-0 5, Blythe 1 0-0 3, Colvin 0 1-2 1, Rickett 11 1`-2 23, Applegate 2 0-0 4, Hilderbrand 1 0-0 2, Team 22 9-12 56.

Three-Point Goals:

Peebles (5)- Gross 1, Ryan 2, McClary 2

Manchester (3)- Hayslip 1, Doyle 1, Blythe 1