Irwin Leads Whitko Past Manchester

The Manchester boys basketball team was hosting Whitko and Stetson University bound Logan Irwin Saturday, looking to continually improve come sectional time. The Squires hung with the Wildcats for the first half and a sub par third quarter was the difference, as Manchester fell to Whitko 52-40.

The Squires played right with the Wildcats in the first quarter, despite Irwin scoring 9 of his game high 24 points in the quarter, trailing just 15-10 after one. Derek Self and Logan Brunn did all the Squires scoring with Self having 6 and Brunn 4.

The Squire defense clamped down on Irwin in the second quarter, holding him to just 2 points, but Whitko would hold their lead with Weber and Sims threes, out scoring Manchester 11-10 in the quarter to lead 26-20 at the half. Connor McLaughlin again was deadly from behind the arch, draining two three pointers to keep the Squires close.

The third quarter was the down fall for Manchester as Whitko out scored the Squires 13-6. Three Squires had buckets, Self, Clayton Petrie and Grant Schuler. Irwin would score 7 in the quarter.

Down 13 going into the fourth quarter the Squire offense needed to heat up and cool off the Wildcats. Manchester would hit three times from behind the arch, while fouling to try and catch up, but Whitko converted 9 free throws in the quarter to hang on 52-40.

Leading Wjitko was L. Irwin with 24, Stoddard 8, Weber 6, Powell 5, Krull 4, Sims 3, K. Irwin 2.

Leading Manchester was Derek Self and Clayton Petrie with 11 points each. Connor McLaughlin had 9, Logan Brunn 4, Grant Schuler 2, Noah Johnson 2 and Caleb Thomas 1