The Southwood Knights will be home for the holidays to greet the Manchester Squires at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Southwood has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Manchester will arrive with five straight wins.
Last Saturday, Southwood was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 56-52 to Eastern.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Bryce Wilcox, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds. He scored a full 28.8% of Southwood's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Will Winer, who scored 14 points along with 3 steals.
Even though Manchester has not done well against Huntington North recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Saturday. Manchester came out on top against Huntington North by a score of 62-55. Given Manchester's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while Huntington North is ranked 346th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Manchester's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Gavin Betten led the charge by dropping a double-double on 16 points and 12 rebounds. That makes it five consecutive games in which Betten has scored at least 25% of Manchester's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyler McLain, who scored 15 points.
Southwood's loss dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Manchester, their victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 5-0.
Southwood came up short against Manchester when the teams last played back in December of 2022, falling 71-67. Will Southwood have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
