Manchester Essex shakes off slow start, dominates Whittier Tech in First Round win
Mar. 5—There were some opening round jitters for the Manchester Essex boys basketball team early in Friday's Division 4 First Round game against Whittier Tech.
The 12th-seeded Hornets were cold from the field to start the game and a step behind on defense, leading to a 16-point lead for the 21st-seeded Wildcats late in the opening frame.
"Think we got a little caught up in the atmosphere a bit and there were some nerves early," Manchester Essex head coach Tim St. Laurent admitted. "Their shots were dropping too. We're usually good at making our rotations and we were a little late early. But this team is resilient."
The Hornets ended up showing that resiliency, evening up the score by halftime and putting on a defensive clinic the rest of the way en route to a comfortable, 65-39 win at Manchester Essex High School. Manchester Essex (17-4) outscored the Wildcats 57-17 after the first quarter turning a sluggish start into a dominant performance.
With the win Manchester Essex advances to the Round of 16 against the winner of Saturday's First Round tilt between No. 5 Cathedral and No. 28 Winthrop.
The Hornets started the comeback trail with a 10-2 run to open up the second quarter. After falling behind 22-8 after one, Manchester Essex won the second quarter by a score of 22-8 to send the teams into halftime tied at 30. Not only did the shots start to fall for the No. 12 seed, the defense caught up to speed and started to take over the game.
"We just went one possession at a time and hit some big shots," St. Laurent said. "And we just kept defending. We switched to man-to-man after starting in zone and the kids just got into the passing lanes and did their jobs."
After the Hornets switched to a man-to-man look in the second quarter, Whittier Tech could not find any quality looks at the basket. After scoring 22 points in the first, the visitors scored just 17 points the rest of the way. The Wildcats hit only six shots from the field over the final three quarters and did not hit a shot from the field in the third, which led to the Hornets opening up a 45-33 lead after three.
In the second, third and fourth quarters, the Manchester Essex defense held Whittier Tech to 14% shooting (6-for-44). That tenacious defense saw the Hornets continue to extend the lead in the fourth, forcing tough shots, limiting second chances and forcing turnovers leading to points in transition.
Junior forward Brennan Twombly sparked the team on both ends of the floor with a game-high 19 points and 15 rebounds. Twombly caught fire in the second frame, scoring six straight points for his team at one point. He was also a standout on the defensive end of the floor, controlling the paint and limiting Whittier's second-chance opportunities.
Cade Furse also scored in double-figures for the Hornets with 13-points, A.J. Pallazola had 10. Ben Hurd had seven big points off the bench to go along with seven rebounds while Patrick Cronin had nine-points and six boards.
"We know we need to go to Brennan, it's a point of emphasis for us," St. Laurent said. "The way they defended Cade tonight opened things up for Brennan and he came through. The whole team showed a ton of heart tonight, it was a great win."
Division 4 First Round
No. 12 Manchester Essex 65, No. 21 Whittier Tech 39
at Manchester Essex HS
Whittier Tech 22;8;3;6| 39
Manchester Essex 8;22;15;20| 65
WT: Yuki Efosa 5-1-14, Tyler Price 2-5-10, Schneider Geneus 3-0-6, Xavier Lopez 2-0-4, Ricky Comeau 1-0-3, Brendan Dodier 1-0-2.
ME: Brennan Twombly 9-1-19, Cade Furse 5-0-13, A.J. Pallazola 4-2-10, Patrick Cronin 2-4-9, Ben Hurd 3-1-7, Sam Athanas 1-0-3, Vaughn O'Leary 0-2-2, Finn Hawley 1-0-2.
3-Pointers: WT, Efosa 3, Price, Comeau; ME, Furse 3, Cronin, Athanas.
Halftime: 30-30.
Records: WT, 13-8; ME, 17-4.
