On Thursday night, Manual’s boys’ varsity basketball faced off against their rival, the Male Bulldogs, resulting in ato win the regional quarterfinal game, 65-61.
First Half:
To start off the game, the Crimsons got the tipoff, but Male ended up getting the ball. Manual’s defense fought back and got the rebound, though.
Male’s defense and offense responded by dunking on the Crimsons and blocking a dunk attempted by Manual’s Deshawn McGee (#23,11).
The Bulldogs’ Jaymes Clark (#4,11) then got a three-point shot, but the Crimsons’ Malachi Coleman (#3,12) countered with one of his own. By then, Male had the lead of 10-4.
Manual’s Mark Woods (#15,11) then took the ball and scored from down low with the Bulldogs defense surrounding him. He got fouled in the process, but failed to make the free throw.
McGee then stole the ball from Male’s offense and passed it to Coleman, who scored. Coleman made another three-pointer during the next Crimsons possession, making the score 18-13, with Male still in the lead.
Male ended up stealing the ball a few seconds later with Cole Edelen (#0,11) making the layup and scoring on the Crimsons.
However, Manual’s offense continued to fight even with the lack of pace in the defensive sector. Justice Decker (#1,12) fought his way to the basket and scored, while Coleman followed him scoring another three-pointer. At this point, the score was now 31-20, with the Crimsons still down to the Bulldogs.
To end the first half, Manual attempted to close the gap, but the Bulldogs’ defense held strong. Manual’s Decker and Coleman did get fouled in the process of trying to make a basket, making their free throws, though.
At the end of the half, the score was 37-25, with Male in the lead going into halftime.
Second Half:
To start off the second half of the big game, the Crimsons got the ball first, with Coleman making a layup.
Manual’s Noah Smith (#2,12) then got the ball and made a three-point shot, and Coleman followed right behind with another of his own. Though Male was still in the lead, 37-33, Manual was beginning to close the gap.
The Bulldogs made a couple shots of their own, but the Crimsons’ offense was on a roll with multiple three-point shots. First, Manual’s Smith made a three-point shot, then Coleman made one, too.
During a Male possession, Manual’s Ahmad Shelton (#11,11) knocked the ball out of their hand, with Smith getting the ball and made another three-point shot for the Crimsons.
Manual’s Coleman then made yet another three-point shot, but Male’s Edelen didn’t back down, answering back with a three-pointer This brought the score to 51-47, with Male still in the lead, but Manual inching closer and closer to the Bulldogs’ lead.
Another three-point shot was then made by Manual’s Smith, followed by a layup by Decker. He ended up getting fouled on his way down, making his free throw to finally tie up the game, 53-53.
There was then another foul committed on Manual’s Decker and a foul committed on Woods. They both made their free throws, giving Manual their first lead of the game, 59-53.
Male’s Jordan Mitchell (#15, 9) attempted to keep the Bulldogs in the game with a three-pointer, but Manual regained possession of ball after a scuffle, and Geoffrey Njogu (#4,11) scored.
With just 12 seconds left of the game, Manual’s Coleman got fouled and went on to the free-throw line where he made both of his shots.
“Just fight, fight, and get to the next game. Win that’s all that matters, just get the win,” Coleman said.
Ultimately, the Crimsons ended up on top 65-61, and will play Trinity on Thursday in regional semifinals.
“We got to go out and fight another battle again, tough Trinity team in 7th region that beat us pretty bad in LIT. We want to get back and we want to see them,” head coach Miquel Coleman said.
