RICHMOND, Ind. - Manchester men's basketball team slides past Earlham on Saturday, December 3rd by a score of 75-60. The Spartans improve to 3-4, 3-0 in HCAC play. 

Earlham grabbed the 5-0 lead to start the game, but the Spartans were able to take the lead thanks to a 7-0 run. The Quakers tied the score back up twice before MU regained the lead through the remainder of the competition. 

The Spartans saw their biggest lead of the night with 4:41 on the clock in the second half of play, when a made free throw by Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind., Harrison) put the Black and Gold up 71-50. 

The Spartans were led by Logan Willoughby (Greenwood, Ind., Whiteland Community) with 23 points, shooting 8-13 from two-point range and 4-5 from beyond the three-point arc. Smith finished the day with 18 points, while Quentez Columbus (South Bend, Ind., Adams) chipped in 11 points and a team-high 8 rebounds and 6 assists. As a team, the Black and Gold finished with a 45.8 field goal percentage, a 56.0 three-point percentage, and a 53.8 free throw percentage. The Spartans were able to score 29 points from Earlham's 24 turnovers on the day and scored 20 total points in the paint. 

Jaden Terry led the Quakers with 12 points, going 5-12 from field goal range. James Holder pulled-down a team-high 9 rebounds for Earlham while Terry and Casey Keesee each had 2 assists. As a team, the Quakers shot 49.0% (25-51) from two-point range, 43.8% (7-16) from three-point range, and 27.3% (3-11) from the free throw line. 

Manchester will be back-in action on Saturday, December 10th. Both the men's and women's basketball team will head to Franklin College for another HCAC doubleheader. The women are set to tip-off against the Grizzlies at 1:00 p.m. with the men to follow at 3:00 p.m.