Manhattan lost their third straight game after a hard-fought loss at Emporia 55-48 on Saturday, bringing Manhattan to a 8-5 record with seven games left before the postseason. MHS looked to bounce back from Friday night at Blue Valley-Stilwell where they had a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in overtime losing 53-50.

Going into the game Manhattan was without junior Landon Knopp, who suffered an ankle injury the night before.

“I think having Landon Knopp would’ve helped us a lot,” senior Miles Braxmeyer, “but honestly, I think just playing a little bit harder and coming out with more focus in the second half.”

In the first quarter Manhattan took a strong 15-10 lead to keep the pace going into the second quarter. 

Both teams struggled with turnovers in the second but Manhattan found life with the help of senior Asher Newcomer’s five points as they went into the half with a 26-19 lead.

“I think we have a lot of chemistry together and we really play together well, share the ball with each other and it’s not it’s not a one-man show. So we play together and we play as a team,” Braxmeyer said.

After half Emporia was able to cut through Manhattan’s defense as they out scored them 18-10 in the third giving them the lead with a quarter left to play. 

MHS was able to come back from their deficit and bring it within two but Emporia held out and hit their free throws as they handed MHS a 48-53 loss.

“I see that we work together the best,” senior Jason Kim said, “since we were little we played together. So I think just our chemistry is just good on and off the court,[ we communicate] well and it hasn’t been doing great, but I think it’ll be good in the future.”

Manhattan’s next game is at Hayden on Friday, Feb. 2.