Manhattan High boys\u2019 basketball once again found itself in a nail-biter Friday night, hanging on through the final seconds with a pair of defensive stands to secure a 55-53 win over Hayden at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, I actually felt pretty calm there,\u201d head coach Benji George said of the closing moments. \u201cI really trust our defense. We were not what we\u2019ve been defensively tonight, but I trusted that when it was needed, we were going to buckle down and get stops \u2014 and we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory also tied George with the school record for most wins by a Manhattan High boys basketball head coach with 152.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018I\u2019ll have a chance to reflect, and it obviously means a lot,\u201d George said. \u201cI\u2019m very in tune with the history of the program. I appreciate it. But I\u2019ve always told the players, I get all the losses, they get all the wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two Centennial League foes entered the night on very different paths, but records often fade once league play begins. That proved true again Friday, as the game featured six lead changes and was tied nine times.<\/p>\n
Manhattan was led by Will Carpenter\u2019s 19 points, as the senior got rolling early with three 3-pointers and added a crucial basket in the fourth quarter. Sawyer Newton finished with 14 points, while Henry Witt tied his career high with 12.<\/p>\n
Carpenter spearheaded the Manhattan offense early, scoring 10 points in the opening quarter. Hayden answered with a spurt of its own from beyond the arc, keeping the Indians\u2019 edge slim at 16-14 after one.<\/p>\n
Manhattan began to create separation in the second quarter, taking a 32-24 lead into halftime. Carpenter scored 13 points in the first half on three triples, while Witt provided a lift inside with 10 before the break.<\/p>\n
Hayden responded with a strong push to open the third quarter, then traded baskets at the rim with Manhattan until the Wildcats took a 38-37 lead, forcing an Indians timeout. Hayden carried momentum into the fourth, leading 42-39 after outscoring Manhattan 18-7 in the period.<\/p>\n
The Indians answered immediately, opening the final quarter on a 6-0 run to retake the lead. The game tightened from there, tied at 49-49 entering the final three minutes and again with one minute remaining as neither side could pull away.<\/p>\n
Manhattan edged ahead on a free throw from Easton Duff, setting up Hayden with a chance to hold for the final shot. The Indians\u2019 defense rose again, forcing a steal with 10 seconds remaining. After splitting free throws, Manhattan left Hayden one last look in the final seconds, which fell short.<\/p>\n
Manhattan heads to the Tournament of Champions in Dodge City next week, opening a stretch of three games in three days beginning Thursday.<\/p>\n
MANHATTAN 55,<\/p>\n
HAYDEN 53<\/p>\n
MHS (9-1, 3-0) \u2014 16; 16; 7; 16 \u2014 55<\/p>\n
Hayden (4-8, 1-3) \u2014 14; 10; 18; 11 \u2014 53<\/p>\n
INDIVIDUAL SCORING<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Carpenter 19, Doering 3, Sawyer Newton 14, Witt 12, Washington 2, Duff 5<\/p>\n
Hayden \u2014 Mitchell 4, Hanika 10, Mason Becker 12, Kidd 6, Compton 15, Tourtillot 4, Wolff 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan High boys\u2019 basketball once again found itself in a nail-biter Friday night, hanging on through the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8918,4567,11590,11581,11583,75,84,83,11587,9,24,63,4027],"class_list":["post-103008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-american-football","tag-basketball","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-gridiron-football","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-team-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}