By Anthony Gorges
JC/Little Apple Post
Both Manhattan High boys and girls teams traveled to Junction City for the rivalry game. It is the first of two meetings this season. Manhattan swept Junction City on Tuesday night. The girls game was a blowout, while the boys game was a nail-biter.
Girls recap – Manhattan 66, Junction City 31.
In the girls game, Manhattan won the opening tip and scored first, and never looked back. The Lady Indians cruised to victory, winning 66-31 over the Junction City Lady Jays. JCHS kept it close for most of the first quarter, trailing 20-7 after one.
Then, Manhattan junior post player Jelena Depusoir took over for the Lady Indians. She finished the game with 25 points, all of them coming either at the free throw line or within two feet of the basket, just running up and down the floor. Manhattan led 41-16 at halftime and ultimately cruised to the 66-31 victory inside the Blue Jay Event Center.
For Junction City, Laniyah Warmack and Isabel Pruitt both had seven points to lead the Lady Jays.
With the win, MHS improves to 7-2 and will now take on Topeka Hayden on Friday night. For JC, they fall to 1-7 and will host Topeka High on Friday night.
Boys recap – Manhattan 49, Junction City 48
The first quarter featured mainly two players. For Manhattan, it was Sawyer Newton, who had eight of the 11 first-quarter points. For Junction City, it was point guard Lovell Autry, who had another stellar game. At the end of the first quarter, Manhattan led 11-7. Second-quarter action continued the great defensive play, with neither team getting settled into their half-court offenses and neither team’s big guys having success inside. Manhattan led 19-17 at the break.
In the third quarter, JC was finally able to break through and explode on a scoring spree. The Blue Jays turned defense into offense, and two big three-point makes by junior Khaliel Walker gave Junction City a 36-30 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, Manhattan wasted no time responding. They quickly tied the game at 38, thanks to big man Easton Duff, who came alive in the fourth quarter. Duff and guard Vince Doering both hit clutch shot after clutch shot for MHS to give them a 47-46 lead with less than a minute to go. Junction City’s Lovell Autry kept the Blue Jays in the game.
The final 30 seconds were very interesting, to say the least. A five-second call on Autry, and then a made free throw put MHS on top 48-46 with 10.8 seconds to go. JC had the ball, but Asher Newton stole it away for Manhattan. Newton was fouled by JC's Khaliel Walker and then Newton assessed a technical foul. Newton shot two free throws for the common foul and made one of two. Lovell Autry shot both free throws for JC and hit both. The Indians led 49-48 with 2.9 seconds to go. Due to the technical foul, JC got the ball in the front court on the sideline. Autry tried throwing a lob, but it was too long and ricocheted off the backboard, and Manhattan won 49-48 in JC.
Manhattan had three players in double digits. Duff finished with 13, while Doering and Sawyer Newton both finished with 12. For Junction City, Lovell Autry finished with a game-high 25 points.
Manhattan improved to 8-1, while Junction City falls to 4-4.