The Manhattan High boys basketball improved to 3-2 after beating Dodge City 59-50 last Friday in their home opener.

MHS started the season off in the Hays Shootout going 2-1. In their first game MHS went up against the defending Oklahoma State basketball champions Millwood. Manhattan would fall behind early and wouldn’t be able to catch up as Manhattan lost 87-62. In the second game MHS went up against Sunrise Christian Academy Silver and dominated the whole game taking their first win of the season 71-50. In the final game of the tournament Manhattan continued to move the ball well against Newton as they went on to win 63-45 going 2-1 and taking fifth at the Hays Shootout.

The Tuesday after the tournament Manhattan traveled back to play Hays as MHS looked to continue their winning record. In the first half Manhattan stayed close only down 24-28 going into the half. In the second half Hays pulled away from Manhattan to give Manhattan its second loss of the season 41-59.

After going to Hays for their first four games, Manhattan’s home opener was set for last Friday against Dodge City. In the first quarter Manhattan took advantage of Dodge’s two straight turnovers to get the offense rolling. After Dodges mistakes they made it up with a 7-0 run taking their first lead of the night 4-7. The Indians had a quick answer with a 7-0 run of their own, retaking the lead 11-7. Through the rest of the first both teams scored 3 points a piece giving MHS the lead 14-10 going into the second. In the second Dodge came back and tied the game but Manhattan had other answers as they went on another 7-0 run to close out the half 29-23.

“We played really well on defense but we had a lot of costly turnovers on offense,” junior Landon Knopp said.

In the third Manhattan came out strong on offense scoring 16 points while also allowing 16 for Dodge as they held the lead 45-39 going into the fourth. In the fourth Manhattan pulled away giving themselves a 11 point lead with four minutes left in the game.  Dodge slowly started to climb back as they cut the Indians lead down to six with two minutes left, but, it wouldn’t be enough as Manhattan won 59-50 with the help of senior Asher Newcomer’s 18 points and junior Knopp’s 12 points on the night.

“I wasn’t really thinking about scoring, I just tried to play with my teammates and share the ball and be a good teammate,” Newcomer said.

Manhattan’s next games include Topeka High on Tuesday and at home against Wichita East on Saturday