A hard loss can do to two things to a team: it can build them up, or break them down. For Manhattan High, it was the first.
“[This game was] much more of what I’m used to coaching and the basketball team that I recognize on a daily basis,” head coach Benji George said. “It was all about the fact that we played with pride. I told the guys, ‘I just want you to compete, and let everything else take care of itself,’ so we definitely did that tonight.”
The Indians (11-4, 7-2 Centennial League) got back into form, beating Emporia (6-10, 0-9 Centennial League) 63-44. A key for MHS was getting back to basics.
“Coach just told us to get back to the basics,” senior Trevor Hudgins said. “He pretty much just said, ‘Extra passes, defense, rebounding, everything that got us here, we need to start doing again,’ because we kind of got away from that during the Washburn game, and it kind of lost us the game.”
Manhattan came out of the gate firing, jumping out to a 13-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Emporia went on a run of its own, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first with a 17-11 Indian lead.
The Indians were led early on by the play of their bigs. Seniors Cade Roberts and Josh Haus combined for 10 points in the first frame.
“[EHS likes] to ugly the game up and all that, so it was a battle,” George said. “I told the guys that the paint was probably the toughest place in Manhattan tonight, and I liked that we matched their toughness in there for the most part.”
Defense was the story for Manhattan’s second quarter, as the Indians allowed only five points on its way to a 29-16 halftime lead.
The first half brought sophomore Zac Cox’s Varsity debut. Cox played in part to give the starters extra rest, but the coaches felt like he deserved the time as well.
“He’s been playing phenomenally in J.V.,” George said, “just impressing us, so we decided to give him some minutes and spell some of our guards, especially with a back-to-back tomorrow [in Dodge City].”
The script didn’t change in the second half for the Indians, as they outscored Emporia 34-28 to cruise to the victory. With a big lead late in the game, MHS got to play everyone on the team, something the starters love seeing.
“That was pretty fun because we know how much time we put into this,” Hudgins said, “and want to see each other succeed on the court, and it was pretty fun watching the young guys come in later on in the second half and do some big plays late down in the stretch.”
Senior Tommy Ekart helped close the game out early in the fourth quarter, going 3-for-3 from deep to put Emporia away.
“They were face-guarding me basically the whole game so I couldn’t get my shot off,” Ekart said, “but Nate [Awbrey, junior] was really good at penetrating and getting the ball to me in the fourth quarter.”
Ekart finished the game with 13 points. Hudgins led the team with 21, as Roberts added 10 of his own. The Indians got 13 points off the bench as well, something they like to see.
“I think it started with Nate Awbrey and Josh Haus coming in and playing with confidence,” George said. “I told the guys in McPherson that the great thing about our team is we’re going to get better and better as our bench guys get more and more ready to play and improve and adjust to Varsity basketball, so it was nice to put that component in with it.”
Manhattan has a quick turnaround, playing at Dodge City the next day before returning to Centennial League action at Topeka High Tuesday.
“It’s tough,” George said, “and I told them, you know, ‘I’m drawing motivation from the fact that it counts towards sub-state, and I wouldn’t care how far we had to go to get a win that counts towards sub-state.’”