In 2014-2015, Manhattan High finished as Centennial League champs.

In 2015-2016, Manhattan High finished as Centennial League champs.

And in 2016-2017, Manhattan High finished as Centennial League champs.

“That’s awesome,” senior Luke Saville said. “That’s something you dream about, it really is a dream come true.”

Manhattan (16-4, 11-2 Centennial League) used its top-level defense to its advantage, beating Shawnee Heights (17-3, 10-3 Centennial League) 55-46 to clinch the championship.

“Tonight was all about our defense,” head coach Benji George said. “It carried us to a title tonight, and I’ve been telling the guys that all year long, it’s going to take us to the promise land. [The] thing about defense is it travels, and it traveled with us tonight.”

The Indians started the game rocking, jumping out to a 6-0 lead, capitalized by a dunk from senior Cade Roberts. MHS would continue rolling all the way to a 16-8 lead. Shawnee would claw back, closing the quarter 7-2 to trail 18-15 after one.

In a constant theme throughout the year, the second quarter proved troublesome for Manhattan. Senior point guard Trevor Hudgins picked up his second foul early in the quarter, forcing him to ride the bench. Shawnee took advantage, threatening to pull away from Manhattan. The Indians held on, trailing 31-30 at the half.

“[Hudgins] getting in foul trouble definitely hurt us,” junior Nate Awbrey said. “I mean he’s our starting point guard, but we just had to weather a storm. To be going into half only down one was pretty much a victory for us there.”

MHS turned it around after halftime, with Roberts scoring the first six points to give Manhattan the lead for good. Roberts would end up scoring or assisting on all 10 third quarter points.

“We all felt like we were just dominant inside,” Roberts said, “so we just tried to do our thing in there. [After making some jumpers,] I tried to look for my other big and you know, that’s what we work on a lot in practice, and [it] worked well.”

Roberts led the team with 14 points. Senior Tommy Ekart added 13, while Awbrey had nine off the bench.

“Our guys off the bench did a great job,” George said, “Josh [Haus, senior] and [Awbrey] especially. I thought [Haus] played phenomenal the first half, [and Awbrey] hit big free throws and got some key buckets there in the first half.”

Shawnee Heights kept the game close, coming within one point, before Manhattan started to pull away midway through the fourth thanks to a Saville 3-pointer. Awbrey went 4-6 from the charity stripe to clinch the game and the championship.

With the Manhattan student section chanting “I believe that we just won,” the bench erupted in celebration, each and every member jumping for joy. That excitement carried on into the locker room.

“We were all very quiet and composed…I’m playing, we got lit,” Roberts said. “There wasn’t a silent moment after the game, it was just the whole time singing, dancing, jumping around, getting excited. Everything someone looks forward to.”

The story of the night for Manhattan was its defense. After allowing Shawnee to score 72 points in their last meeting, MHS held the Thunderbirds below 50.

“The biggest key is just that we held them to 46 points,” George said. “I would have never guessed [we’d have held] a team like that in the forties, I even told somebody that…nobody was going to have 40 points tonight. Just a great defensive effort.”

With the win, and a victory in a coin toss, the Indians took the top seed in sub-state. Their first game of the postseason will be Wednesday at home against rival Junction City, a team they have faced twice this season.

“We got to treat it like it’s a championship game,” Roberts said, “because you know, when it comes down to it, anything can happen honestly on any given night, and we just got to play our game and we got to come out and take it.”

Though Manhattan soundly beat Junction City in both previous games, George knows the team must remain humble going forward.

“It’s the last thing I told them [before the game],” George said. “‘There’s eight other teams that would have traded us tonight,’ and we have to understand we’re lucky to be in this game and we have to stay humble and respect the game being in this big of game.”