By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The two things Washburn Rural boys basketball coach Kevin Muff talked about after Friday's win over Emporia was the need to get more Junior Blues involved offensively and for Rural to play better defense.
The Junior Blues made improvement in both of those areas in Saturday's 57-43 home Centennial League victory over Manhattan.
Senior standouts Joe Berry and Jack Hutchinson combined for 30 points and the Junior Blues also got key contributions from seniors Brady Patterson and Davan Brady, who scored 9 and 7 points, respectively, as Rural shot 63.9 percent from the field.
Washburn Rural senior Joe Berry scores 2 of his game-high 19 points in Saturday's 57-43 win over Manhattan. [Photograph by Doug Walker]
Defensively, the Junior Blues held Manhattan to 35.6 percent shooting while not allowing any Indian player to score more than 11 points.
"I thought we played better,'' Muff said. "It just shows you how little influence as a coach I have because we had no practice time. So obviously it has nothing to do with me, but these guys coming out focused. (Manhattan) is a sub-state team potentially and you want to defend your home floor.
"We're not very physically intimidating and big or anything like that, but I thought we scrapped a little bit and fought a little bit and just took them out of rhythm switching defenses and stuff.''
Washburn Rural senior Brady Patterson scored 9 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in Saturday's 57-43 win over Manhattan. [Photograph by Doug Walker]
Washburn Rural, which improved to 8-3 overall and 7-1 in the league, opened up a 16-10 first-quarter lead over the Indians and then hit Manhattan with 14-5 second quarter to take command at the half, 30-15.
Manhattan used an 11-0 run in the third quarter to get back within 10 after Rural had built its lead to 21, but the Junior Blues still held a 41-30 advantage at the start of the fourth and the Indians got no closer the rest of the way while Rural led by as many as 17 points.
Berry led Washburn Rural with a game-high 19 points while Hutchinson added 11 points, including 3 3-pointers.
Sophomore Jack Wilson came off the bench to lead Manhattan (4-5 2-4) with 11 points, but the Indians' five starters combined for only 27 points.
With the win, Washburn Rural remained tied for the Centennial League lead heading into a Tuesday night road showdown with co-leader Topeka West.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 57, MANHATTAN 43
Manhattan 10 5 15 13 -- 43
Washburn Rural 16 14 11 16 -- 57
Manhattan (4-5, 2-4) -- Braxmeyer 4-13 0-0 9, Perkins 3-9 0-0 8, Reid 0-1 2-2 2, C. Wilson 1-2 1-2 3, Carr 2-8 0-0 5, Brown 0-3 0-0 0, J. Wilson 4-5 2-4 11, Hall 1-2 0-0 3, Campbell 0-1 0-0 0, Coonrod 1-1 0-0 2, Elumogo 0-0 0-0 0, Wilcoxsen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-45 5-8 43.
Washburn Rural (8-3, 7-1) -- Bachelor 2-2 0-0 5, Williams 1-5 2-2 4, Berry 8-11 2-6 19, Hutchinson 4-8 0-0 11, Patterson 4-5 1-1 9, Howard 0-0 0-0 0, Kidd 1-2 0-0 2, Brady 3-3 0-1 7, Bunck 0-0 0-0 0, Morrow 0-0 0-0 0, Conklin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-36 5-10 57.
3-point goals -- Manhattan 6 (Perkins 2, Braxmeyer, Carr, J. Wilson, Hall), Washburn Rural 6 (Hutchinson 3, Bachelor, Berry, Brady). Total fouls -- Manhattan 12, Washburn Rural 12. Fouled out -- none.
