The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Clinton stops Dutchmen in district semifinals
Schaible's 25 points not enough, Manchester finishes season 9-12
By Ed Patino, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 15, 2007
For three quarters, the Manchester varsity boys' basketball team matched its rival run for run.
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In the fourth, however, the Clinton Redskins delivered a knockout blow.
A big night by Weston Clark and a fourth-quarter surge lifted the Redskins to a 49-44 victory over the Manchester Flying Dutchmen in the Class C district semifinals last Wednesday at Clinton High School.
Clinton (13-10) advanced to last Friday's district final, where it was defeated by Cascades Conference champion Hanover-Horton. After a resilient regular season, Manchester (9-12) saw its campaign come to an end.
The loss spoiled a strong performance from Greg Schaible. The senior led all scorers with 25 points in his final prep game, but the next highest scorer for the Dutchmen was Nick Ball with six.
"We didn't get the balanced scoring that we're used to, and that made it tough," Manchester coach Bryan Barnard said. "We did a nice job as a team defensively and rebounded well at times, but we didn't shoot well from the field."
Also hurting the Dutchmen was a lack of trips to the free throw line. For the game, Manchester was 8-for-9 at the stripe, while the Redskins were 17-for-22.
The Dutchmen held the lead for a long stretch of the first half. After Ball tied the game with a traditional three-point play, Schaible buried a missile with 2:15 left in the opening quarter, giving Manchester a 10-7 lead.
The Dutchmen extended their lead midway through the second quarter with a 7-2 run. A three-pointer and lay-up by Schaible and an inside basket by Jake LaCross lifted Manchester to a 21-15 lead late in the half.
The Redskins answered with a run of their own, capitalizing on free throws to close the half with seven straight points. A putback by Zach Martiny pulled Clinton to within one and then Clark hit three free throws in the final 15 seconds, giving the Redskins a 22-21 lead at the break.
"It was a close game and both teams played with a lot of heart and energy," Barnard said. "The big difference was that we didn't get to the line."
Schaible tied the game when he canned another three-pointer two minutes into the third quarter. Just over two minutes later, the Dutchmen took control with a 9-0 run.
Ball broke a 28-28 tie with a three-pointer, then Schaible hit a pair of free throws on a technical foul on Martiny. Randy Kleinschmidt capped the run with a driving lay-up, giving Manchester its biggest lead of the night at 35-28.
The Dutchmen went cold after that, and Clinton gained the momentum with a 12-0 run. After slicing the deficit to three by the end of the third quarter, Clinton took the lead for good on consecutive baskets by Clark. Two free throws by Stephen Burton and a jumper by William Sanborn gave the Redskins a 40-35 lead with five minutes left.
"We felt positive throughout the game, and I thought we ran our offensive plays well and got the ball where we needed it," Barnard said. "We just missed a lot of high percentage shots."
The Dutchmen appeared ready to tie the game with 1:38 left when Ball drove for a lay-up. However, the basket was negative as Ball was called for a charge. The Redskins were called for a backcourt violation 24 seconds later, but the Dutchmen dribbled the ball out of bounds on the ensuing possession.
"That took some air out of us, but sometimes you get tough calls," Barnard said. "We had 13 turnovers in the game, which isn't terrible, but a couple of them at the end hurt us."
Baskets from Brent Roberts and Burton lifted the Redskins to a seven-point lead, but Schaible hit an off-balance three with 7.6 seconds left, making it 47-44. But Clark iced the game with a pair of free throws.
Schaible's 25-point night saw him hit four missile and go 7-for-7 at the charity stripe.
Kleinschmidt added five points, while LaCross was held to four points.
Seniors Schaible, LaCross, Kevin Fielder, Zach Benedict, Andrew Tindall, Nick and David Ball played their final game of their prep careers.
"Greg and Nick were outstanding captains and did everything that was asked," Barnard said. "Jake improved throughout the season and gave us a tough post presence, and Zach was always covering the other team's point guard and has a lot of fight in him. Kevin, David and Andrew were team players who never complained and were good senior leaders."
Clark was the only Redskin in double figures, scoring a team-high 20 points. Burton added eight points, while Spencer Krauss had seven points for Clinton.
After opening the season with eight straight losses, Manchester won eight out of nine games from Jan. 16 to Feb. 15.
"I had some great kids who worked hard, prepared for games and never had a bad attitude," Barnard said. "Their approach to the game made it a lot of fun to coach."
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