Manchester dominates second half in 81-67 win over Beavers

By Mallory Kemper, sports information intern

The Bluffton University men's basketball team traveled to Spartan country to face HCAC rival Manchester College on Wednesday, February 9. The Beavers were down, 40-36, at the break and the Spartans came out strong the second half to pull away with an 81-67 win. The Beavers fell to 14-8 overall and 7-8 in the HCAC. Manchester improved to 16-6 overall and 12-3 in the conference.

Sophomore Josh Fisher (Rockford/Parkway) ignited the Bluffton offense as he drove to the hoop for two. Mitch Schaefer hit a triple, but Nick Lee (Mt. Blanchard/Vanlue) responded to tie the game at five with 18:16 on the clock.

Over the next six minutes, the two rivals traded buckets until a Scott Schnipke (Kalida) trey and a layin by Dustin Kinn (Alvada/New Riegel) gave the Beavers an 18-11 lead with 12:27 left in the opening half.

A three-pointer from Schaefer capped a quick 8-0 spurt and gave Manchester the lead back (19-18) with 9:24 to play in the first half. A Mychal Hill (London/Jon. Alder) jumper and a trifecta knotted the game at 25 with just over five minutes left in the half.

A layin from Jordan Moss gave Manchester a 40-36 lead at the end of the first period.

Manchester came out the second half with a layin from Nathan Ferch. Over the next 10 minutes the Spartans maintained their six-point lead before back-to-back jumpers from Ferch put the Spartans ahead by nine (62-53).

Two freebies by Ferch gave Manchester its largest lead of the night, 70-57, with 4:52 in the game. The Beavers cut the deficit to nine with a Hill layin but Manchester pulled away for an 81-67 victory and season split with Bluffton.

The Beavers put just two players in double digits. Fisher led the team with 23 points on 7-of-15 from the field. Hill added 16 counters with two assists and two blocks. Lee chipped in with nine markers.

Moss paced the Spartans with 25 points, while Tyler Henn scored 13 and Ferch went 4-of-6 shooting for 12 points.

The Beavers hit 25-of-57 (43.9 percent) and the Spartans made a blistering 30-of-53 (56.6 percent) from the field. Manchester committed 14 turnovers while the Beavers had 13 miscues. The two teams both finished with 30 rebounds.

The Bluffton University men's basketball team will travel to Rose-Hulman on Saturday, February 12, for another critical HCAC matchup. The contest is slated to begin at 3 p.m.