Of the many platitudes tossed around in basketball, a more popular one is that a team “is a second-half team.”

The Manhattan High basketball team was a three-fourths team Thursday evening.

The Indians outscored Thomas More Prep-Marian 58-42 over the final three quarters Thursday in Hays en route to a season-opening 69-53 win over the Monarchs. The win moves Manhattan onto the second round of the Hays City Shoot-Out, a matchup with Garden City.

After a tight first frame that ended in an 11-11 tie, the Indians kicked it in gear in the second quarter.

Junior Tommy Ekart had a lot to do with it.

He posted 12 points in the second alone, threading four field goals through the nylon and converting on all four of his free throw attempts. He put a stamp on the period when he picked off a TMP pass and raced the other way for two points.

“We weren’t really doing much, and I was like, ‘you know, someone’s got to step up. We’ve got to score some points,’” Ekart said. “I just had to push the tempo.”

Thanks in large part to the junior’s production, Manhattan took a 31-25 lead into intermission.

The third quarter, however, was when the floodgates burst.

Senior Gabe Awbrey logged seven of his 21 points in the third, the Indians forced the Monarchs into a score of turnovers, MHS outscored TMP 19-9 and Manhattan’s lead ballooned to 50-34 after three complete.

Awbrey said a lot of the advantage came via his team’s defense, in addition to unforced errors on TMP’s part.

“We were running our full-court, man-to-man press that we run, and we were just trying to get up in them and pressure them some,” he said. “They turned it over some too. [It was] their first game also, so they were sloppy, but definitely our pressure helped force those types of turnovers.”

On the flip side, though, Manhattan turned it over as well. Awbrey said a number of the Indians’ mistakes were a result of careless play.

“It was honestly just sloppy play. We won the game by 16, but we didn’t really play great,” Awbrey said. “Had a lot of turnovers and fouls and everything; kind of unforced. Sometimes the first game seems to be a little bit sloppy, and it was tonight.”

Manhattan has less than 24 hours to correct said mistakes.

The Indians take on Garden City Friday at 4:45 p.m. at Hays High School.