NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Manchester men's basketball team picked up their fifth straight win after defeating the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College 90-79 in Stauffer-Wolfe Arena. With the win, the Spartans improve to 5-4 on the season.
Hope took an early lead to start Saturday's game. The Spartans fought back, tying the score 10-10 with 13:49 left on the clock. After a back-and-forth battle and strong defensive effort, Manchester regained the lead with 4:52 left in the first half. The Spartans were able to maintain the lead throughout the remainder of the game, outshooting the Flying Dutchmen 49-46 in the second half.
Ty Lynas (Crawfordsville, Ind., Crawfordsville) and Logan Willoughby (Greenwood, Ind., Whiteland Community) led the Black and Gold with 17 points each during Saturday's contest. Lynas also had a team-high 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind., Harrison) added 14 points, Quentez Columbus (South Bend, Ind., Adams) finished the day with 13 points, and Zach Sawyer (Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Watterson) had 12 points. As a team, the Spartans shot 50.0% (33-66) from the field, 42.9% (9-21) from three-point range, and 65.2% (15-23) from the free throw line.
Tanner Wiegerink led the Flying Dutchmen with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Woureman added 16 points while Gabe Quillan and Clayton Dykhouse chipped in 13 and 12 points apiece for Hope. As a team, Hope shot 49.2% form field goal range, 38.5% from three-point range, and 56.3% from the free throw line.
Up next, Manchester men's basketball will travel to Westerville, Ohio to compete in the Smokey Ballenger Classic hosted by Otterbein College. The Spartans will tip-off against Penn State Behrend on December 29th at 2:00 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be on December 30th at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m.