By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
If you peruse the brackets of the opening rounds of the high school basketball tournaments, one thing that stands out is the number of lopsided, non-competitive games. It is refreshing to see a competitive contest between two well-matched teamd and it is even more refreshing to see a gym jam-packed with boisterous fans from both teams, rooting on their sides until the Very end.
That was the situation on February 26 at Manchester High School as the Greyhounds played host to the Portsmouth Clay Panthers in a Division VII district quarterfinal battle. The two teams put on an exciting show for their fans in a game that wasn’t decided until the final quarter. Behind a big night (we points) from senior Luke Applegate and another 16 from senior Parker Hayslip, it was the host # 7 seeded Greyhounds who survived and advanced, pulling away in the final period to post a 64-51 victory and move on to the district semifinals.
“Clay is a young team and we have a lot more experience with seven seniors,” Manchester head coach Austin Kingsolver told C103 after the win. “ I was a nervous wreck before the game but the kids seemed poised and ready to play. We watched a lot of film and were well prepared, and our defense was much better than it has been the past few games.”
“I am just really thrilled to get a win tonight.”
The quarterfinal game began on a high note for the Hounds as they scored the first six points, two buckets by Braylon Rickett and another from Traevyn Hilderbrand. After they had to burn an early timeout, the Panthers answered with four straight, only to see Hayslip drill a three-pointer to put the Hounds up 9-4 with 3:45 left in the opening period.
Two Rickett free tosses increased the lead to seven but it was sliced to four on a three-ball by Clay’s Evan Rider, then stretched back out to eight after a Hilderbrand basket and two Hayslip free throws, 15-7 Manchester at the end of the first.
The greyhounds continued to pull away as the second stanza began, a triple from Elijah Crabtree putting the home team in front 20-7. That Crabtree trey began a barrage of long distance accuracy as it was followed by three-pointers from Rider, Applegate and the Panthers’ Noah Woods. The Wood three-point bucket was the start of a 9-0 Clay run that sliced the Manchester lead to 23-19. The Hounds bounced back with another Hayslip three-ball as the long distance bombs continued to fall and when the halftime break rolled around, it was Manchester still on top, 30-24.
After the intermission, the Panthers struck first, back to back scores that pulled them within two, but Applegate drilled a three from his favorite corner spot to give his team a 33-28 advantage. that Applegate score began a 7-2 Manchester run and again the lead had stretched to seven at 37-30. The Panthers weren’t going away as a basket by Woods with four seconds left in the quarter that cut the Greyhound lead to 41-36 with eight minutes going back up on the clock.
With 5:35 to go in the game, Hayslip hit another three to keep the seven-point lead intact, but Clay answered with their own three from Eli Bailey just seven seconds after and the Greyhound lead was again cut to four. The momentum of the contest moved firmly to the home side with just over four minutes to play when the Hounds put together an 8-0 run, that included one of the key plays of the night. Rickett went to the foul line. hit the first shot and missed the second, but Applegate snared the offensive rebound, curled around the lane and laid it back in. Applegate added to his memorable night with another three-pointer from the corner that gave the Hounds a 56-43 lead with a little over two minutes to play.
From that point on, it was up to the Greyhounds to seal the deal from the charity stripe and they were up to the task, sinking eight from the stripe over the final two minutes to wrap up a quarterfinal win and a trip to the Division VII semifinals this week. When the final horn sounded, the Greyhound faithful came to their feet to applaud their team and their 64-51 victory.
AS mentioned earlier, Luke Applegate topped the winner with 23 points, hitting a trio of three-point shots and adding 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Parker Hayslip added 16, also hitting a trio of three-balls and hauling down 8 boards from his point guard position. Braylon Rickett added 9 points and 6 rebounds as the Greyhounds improved their overall season record to 9-14.
:Luke was huge tonight, the most under control on offense he has been all year,” said Coach Kingsolver. “He made some big shots, hit some free throws and had a great all-around game.”
Clay (9-14) was paced by three players in double figures- Noah Woods with 16, Evan Rider with 15 and Corey Williams with 13.
With the win, the Greyhound advanced to the district semifinals where they faced #2 seed South Webster on Tuesday night on the floor at Southeastern High School. (The results of that contest were not available by this edition’s deadline, look for a report next week.)
Box Score
Portsmouth Clay
7 17 12 15 —51
Manchester
15 15 11 23 —64
P. Clay (51): Woods 6 3-6 16, Whitley 0 2-2 2, Williams 5 3-8 13, Rider 5 2-2 15, Bailey 1 0-0 3, McCullough 1 0-0 2, Team 18 10-18 51.
Manchester (64): Hayslip 2 4-7 15, Doyle 0 3-4 3, Colvin 0 2-2 2, Rickett 3 3-3-4 9, Applegate 8 4-4 23, Hilderbrand 2 0-0 4, McChesney 1 1-2 3, Crabtree 1 0-2 3, Team 20 17-25 64.
Three-Point Goals:
P. Clay (5)- Woods 1, Rider 3, Bailey 1
Manchester (7)- Hayslip 3, Applegate 3, Crabtree 1
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