Vince Doering.
The Manhattan High boys’ basketball senior recorded his second game-winning shot in less than a week on Wednesday night. Doering drilled a moving, acrobatic 3-pointer at the horn, sending Manhattan to a 58-56 playoff-opening win over Wichita Northwest.
“The plan was the same play as Washburn — they cut me off this time, though,” Doering said of the game-winner. “It felt pretty good off the hand. Definitely not the shot that we wanted. But I’ll take it.
“In my mind, I was putting that ball up — no matter what.”
It should be no surprise that Manhattan’s playoff journey started the same way so many of its games have this season.
It was the eighth one-possession win for the Indians this year, coming after the regular-season finale last week, when Doering hit a buzzer-beating layup at Washburn Rural. The play call for an attack to the rim was the same, but as Northwest forced him wide, Doering pulled up from deep — and saved Manhattan’s season with the make.
“We ran the same play, and they knew it was coming; they sent two at him, and Vince rose up,” head coach Benji George said. “What a tough shot. You’re off balance, running full speed, and he just knocked it down.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better sight in my life than seeing that ball go through the net.”
Doering, who entered the game with 138 career steals — four away from the program record — continued to do his part defensively and finished with 16 points.
Will Carpenter led the Indians with 21 points, followed by Doering and Easton Duff with 10 each. Carpenter was matched by Northwest’s Darrian Hammond, who also scored 21 points, including a deep 3-pointer that gave the Grizzlies a brief advantage before Doering’s heroics.
“Give Wichita Northwest some credit — they created the chaos,” George said. “And we made the play at the end. Will stepped up and hit some big shots. Easton, obviously, was huge for us off the bench, and then the play by Vince.”
How it happened
The Indians briefly fell behind to open the game before Carpenter heated up from beyond the arc. The Manhattan sharpshooter knocked down three triples in the first quarter as the Indians took an 18-12 lead after one.
A sloppy second quarter unfolded on both ends of the floor, and Wichita Northwest took advantage of several Manhattan miscues. The Grizzlies evened the score at halftime, 26-26.
After scoring a team-high 11 points in the first half, Carpenter tried to jumpstart Manhattan out of the break, opening the second half with a pair of 3-pointers. Northwest responded with an 8-0 run, taking its largest lead of the night at 39-34.
Following a timeout, Manhattan answered with a run of its own late in the third quarter, trimming the deficit to 46-45 entering the final period as the game turned into a fight to the finish.
The teams traded punches down the stretch, highlighted by Easton Duff scoring 10 second-half points. Sawyer Newton fouled out late, but Carpenter stepped up for his fellow senior, finishing at the rim to give Manhattan a 55-53 lead entering the final minute.
That lead held until the 16.5-second mark, when Manhattan turned the ball over and gave the Grizzlies one more chance. Hammond capitalized, drilling his fourth 3-pointer of the night to give Wichita Northwest a one-point lead with six seconds remaining.
That set the stage for Doering once again. The senior raced right and launched a contested 3-pointer as time expired, drilling it to send Manhattan on to the sub-state final.
“All in all, we really didn’t play that well,” George said. “But you’ve got to win games somewhere in March where you don’t play very well. And we did that tonight.”
Manhattan will host No. 5 seed Wichita East (15-8) on Saturday at 5 p.m after the Blue Aces defeated No. 12 seed Campus 76-56 in their playoff opener.
MANHATTAN 58,
WICHITA NW 56
MHS (18-5) — 18; 8; 19; 13; — 58
Wichita NW (9-14) — 12; 14; 20; 10; — 56
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Manhattan — Carpenter 21, Doering 16, Sawyer Newton 5, Witt 2, Washington 2, Duff 10
Wichita NW — Hammond 21, Kates 10, Hutchinson 11, Taylor 7, Young 5, Laws 2