Despite reaching the halfway point of their campaign, the jury is still out on the Manchester boys basketball team with a season full of many highs and lows.
The Panthers, who are 5-6 this year, haven't been able to put together back-to-back victories, but on the other side of the coin their longest losing streak has only been two games.
"We're still a work in progress," said veteran Head Coach Gene Schindewolf "We haven't been able to get a whole lot of consistency in our play, but we're going to keep on working until we get it right. The one good thing is that we have a great group of kids."
Manchester split their last two decisions as they downed Tusky Valley 48-40 last Friday, while dropping a 78-54 affair to Canton Timken on Tuesday.
Junior Nick Miller and senior Connor Mottice starred in their team's win over the Trojans as the duo combined for 35 points. Miller, a 6'1 forward, tallied 18 points, while Mottice, a 6'1 forward, finished with 17.
Miller also led the Panthers with five boards, while junior Tyler Masters had three assists, and three steals.
Manchester broke a 18-18 tie on Clint Miller's basket with 1:00 left in the opening half, and never relinquished the lead there-after, although Tusky Valley hung around throughout the affair.
The Panthers extended that cushion to ten (32-22) in the third quarter only to see the Trojans go on a 10-1 run. The black and red answered by scoring 10 of the next 12 points to squash any Tusky Valley comeback bid.
"We had two great days of practice after the Triway loss, but we just couldn't carry it over to the game," said Schindewolf. "We made some plays in the second half. Especially in the fourth quarter. You have to give them some credit."
Manchester finished the night shooting 41 percent from the field (17 of 41), and 58 percent from the line (11 of 19), compared to the Trojans 30 percent (12 of 40), and 81 percent (14 of 17).
The Panthers weren't as fortunate enough against perennial power Canton Timken as they suffered a 24-point setback (78-54).
The (11-2, 9-0) Trojans, who fell out of the AP Division I state rankings after a loss to Jackson last week, led from wire-to-wire against Manchester as they were ahead 17-6 after one, 31-20 at halftime, and 54-33 through three.
Junior Mark Noble had 15 points, and four assists for the Panthers in a losing effort, while Justin Wiggington and Nate Lynch added 13 points apiece.
Lynch and Nick Miller hauled in seven rebounds each.
Manchester hit 21 of 63 field goal attempts (33 percent), and 12 of 27 foul shots (44 percent) to Timken's 33 of 70 (47 percent), and five of nine (56 percent).
The Panthers will return to action on Friday traveling to CVCA.
New Franklin, Ohio —
