The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Manchester seniors shine in 78-58 rout of Gryphons
Schaible and LaCross led the Dutchmen in final home game
By Ed Patino, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 8, 2007
Playing in the final home game of their prep careers, it was only fitting that the seniors led the way for the Manchester varsity boys' basketball team.
Advertisement
With Greg Schaible providing the offense and Jake LaCross controlling the boards, the Flying Dutchmen ran to a 78-58 victory over the Ann Arbor Greenhills Gryphons in last Friday's regular season finale.
Manchester (9-11, 7-7 Cascades) competed against Clinton in Wednesday's Class C district semifinals last night. If successful, the Dutchmen will play for the district championship Friday at Clinton High School.
The Dutchmen shot 59 percent from the floor (32-for-54) on the night. Most of that came from defensive play, as Manchester forced Greenhills (0-18) into 30 turnovers.
"We had a lot of energy and good defensive play to create turnovers," Manchester coach Bryan Barnard said. "Our game plan was to pressure them and get transition baskets, and we did those things."
Coming off lopsided losses to Hanover-Horton and East Jackson, the Dutchmen wasted little time righting the ship.
Lay-ups by Schaible and Zach Benedict in the first 35 seconds forced a Greenhills timeout and sparked an 8-2 Manchester run. After an exchange of points, Zack Ysassi and Andrew Tindall each canned a three-pointer, giving the Dutchmen a 17-11 lead after the first quarter.
Manchester kept its foot on the gas with a 15-2 run to open the second quarter. An inside basket by LaCross two minutes in capped a string of eight straight Manchester points. A missile by Nick Ball midway through the second gave the Dutchmen a 32-13 lead.
"We were focused on this game and not overlooking to districts," Barnard said. "We talked about playing with energy, and getting those easy baskets early loosened us up."
The Gryphons didn't fade and got back into the game with an 8-0 run in the final two minutes. Consecutive baskets by Matt DeBusscher pulled Greenhills to within eight with 10 seconds left, but Randy Kleinschmidt answered with a jumper at the buzzer, giving Manchester a 36-26 lead at half time.
Schaible and LaCross helped the Dutchmen regain control. LaCross scored twice in the paint to open the third quarter and then Schaible drained a three-pointer, making it 45-31. A minute later, Schaible converted a traditional three-point play, giving the Dutchmen a 16-point cushion.
"It was good to see Greg hit his shots tonight after last week, and that's good for his confidence," Barnard said. "Jake was really strong in the post again, and we were really balanced."
Schaible's jumper early in the fourth quarter made it 61-41. Both teams traded small runs as the tempo quickened down the stretch, but the Dutchmen were never in trouble. A pair of free throws by Justin Welton and a lay-up by David Ball gave Manchester its biggest lead of the night at 71-48.
"It was a fun night for the seniors, and everyone on the team scored," Barnard said. "I think we had the emotional edge because it was our seniors' last game at home."
Schaible led all scorers with 21 points. LaCross recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kleinschmidt had eight points and Nick Ball scored five points, and handed out eight assists.
Benedict made four steals and was largely responsible for shutting down Greenhills' leading scorer Franklin Quinn, who was held to three points on the night.
DeBusscher had 15 points to lead Greenhills. Bryan McCullough added nine points and Max Kurek scored eight points. Emmanuel Bamfo finished with six points for the Gryphons.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
