Basketball Recap: Matt Stophel Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Manual

DSST: Cedar hadn't done well against Manual recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The DSST: Cedar Falcons secured a 68-62 W over the Manual Thunderbolts. This was payback for the Falcons, who suffered an 89-51 defeat the last time these two teams met.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead DSST: Cedar to victory, but perhaps none more so than Matt Stophel, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 18 rebounds. Stophel is crushing it when it comes to boards: he's pulled down at least nine every time he's taken the court this season. Abdi Vidow was another key player, dropping a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds.

DSST: Cedar smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive boards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Manual only pulled down three offensive rebounds.

Manual lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Nigel Jones, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 13 boards. Jones is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for four straight games. Another player making a difference was Marco Arriaga, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 16 points.

The victory made it two in a row for DSST: Cedar and bumps their season record up to 5-7. As for Manual, their record is now 8-4.

DSST: Cedar didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 60-47 loss against Sterling on the 25th. As for Manual, they will be playing at home against Kennedy at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Manual is facing Kennedy at the right time seeing as Kennedy is stuck on an 11-game losing streak.