MANCHESTER – Manchester boys basketball coach John Reiser couldn’t remember the last time his team beat East Catholic. Certainly not in the 10 years he had been coaching the Red Hawks.
But after losing to East Catholic at home on Jan. 17, Manchester went to East Catholic Monday night and won the CCC North game, 67-61, behind 31 points from Derrick Sheets, who hit seven 3-pointers. Will Oden-Tann added 15 points for Manchester (14-1).
“It feels great,” Reiser said. “To defend them like we did – they’re so big – you have to disrupt them, and we did that.”
East Catholic center Brayden Jones led the Eagles with 21 points, 13 in the fourth quarter as East Catholic (9-5) tried to rally but fell short.
“We just weren’t good tonight,” East Catholic coach Luke Reilly said. “They shot the ball very well. We know they do that. We just made too many mistakes. Too many turnovers, too many open 3s, too many second shots.”
East Catholic led 29-26 at halftime but Manchester came out shooting and outscored East 23-9 in the third quarter to take a 49-38 lead.
The last time the two teams played East Catholic won, 72-66.
It was the second big road win for Manchester this season. The Red Hawks rallied from a 25-point deficit to beat Windsor, last year’s Division II champion, 95-94 on Jan. 8.
“Now we have to regroup because we have Windsor on Wednesday,” Reiser said. “We can enjoy this but we have to keep our feet on the ground and stay focused. There’s a lot left.”
Manchester 67, East Catholic 61
Manchester 14 12 23 18 – 67
East Catholic 14 15 9 23 – 61
Manchester: Chance Clark 1 5 7, Derrick Sheets 12 0 31, Will Oden-Tann 6 1 15, Joe Mugovero 0 2 2, Austin Coleman 1 0 2, Cameron Major 4 1 10. Totals: 21 9 67.
East Catholic: Joey Montalvo 5 0 12, Kahil Bell 1 1 4, T. Perkins 4 0 8, O Oquendo 6 0 12, J Padilla 0 2 2, M Bradley 1 0 2, Brayden Jones 8 5 21. Totals: 25 8 61.
Records: Manchester, 14-1; East Catholic, 9-5.