TERRE HAUTE, IND. – Another balanced scoring attack led to sparkling results for Manchester University Saturday, Jan. 9.
Sophomore guard Brody Kirby (Frankfort, Ind.) led a quintet of Spartans in double figures as part of a 79-75 win over Rose-Hulman. Kirby tossed in 17 points on five-of-eight overall and two-of-three shooting from beyond the arc to go with two assists. He was joined by freshman guard Adrian Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.), concluding a 41-point week, and senior guard Brady Dolezal (Tipton, Ind.) who ended with 11 points apiece, and senior forward Matt Brown (Hobart, Ind.) and junior guard Blake Brouwer (Elkhart, Ind.) who tallied 10 points each.
Kirby not only led the scoring attack but also clinched the outcome with a pair of free throws with a second left inside Hulbert Arena. His heroics concluded a back and forth Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest that saw one tie and 10 lead changes over 40 minutes. The Black and Gold, winning for the fifth time in the last six appearances to improve to 7-6 overall and 4-2 in league play, bolted out to as large as a nine-point cushion and kept it throughout the first half. A 9-0 run by the Fightin' Engineers to start the second frame gave them a four-point edge that they kept until the visitors closed the contest with a 12-3 stretch over the last 3:11.
Manchester University, sitting in a tie for third with Defiance College on the HCAC standings, opens back-to-back home games Wednesday, Jan. 13. Bluffton University visits Stauffer-Wolfe Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
NOTES: The victory ended an eight-game Rose-Hulman win skein in the series and was MU's first overall and at Hulbert Arena since the 2010-11 season when they swept both decisions … Kirby saw his points-per-game effort rise two full points, completing a 36-point week. He rose from 5.5 to 7.5 points per contest … Brouwer narrowly missed a double-double. He grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go with his 10-point outing … Johnson's double-figure scoring effort ran his personal streak to six consecutive outings with 10-points-or-more … The Black and Gold's fifth straight 70-points-or-more effort upped their per game effort to a season-best 76.6.