The NBA 3-point contest was two weeks ago, but the Manchester boys basketball team put on a competition of its own Tuesday night.
Senior Danny Grizer emerged victorious, sinking four of the Panthers’ 11 3-pointers to help Manchester oust Waterloo 71-48 in a Division III sectional semifinal.
Four Panthers joined in on the 3-point event from the outset. Manchester made five 3-pointers in the first quarter alone to jump out to a 20-9 lead. Junior guard JoJo France drilled the first two before Grizer, Van Wallbrown and Coye Schuler each canned one.
“We live and die by the outside shot,” Manchester coach Gene Schindewolf said. “We shot it well for being off for 10 days and not playing for a while.”
Long, drawn out possessions from both teams slowed down the second quarter. Waterloo senior Noah Dorsey buried a runner at the buzzer, cutting the Manchester lead to 30-18 at halftime.
The Panthers got back to their game plan in the third quarter.
Even with a double-digit lead, Manchester (14-9) came out firing away from deep. Schuler came away with a steal and converted a 3-pointer from the wing within seconds. That sequence set the pace for the rest of the quarter. The Panthers came up with five steals and drilled five more 3-pointers to outscore the Vikings 28-12 and open their biggest lead of the game at 58-28.
France was the catalyst offensively, repeatedly breaking his man down off the dribble and having the awareness to facilitate to scorers on the wing.
“I just had to take what they gave me,” France said. “I was able to kick it to Coye, who did a great job, and Danny also knocked down a couple.”
France did plenty of scoring in his own right, using his penetration to get to the foul line and make 10-of-13 shots on his way to a game-high 26 points.
“It gave me confidence seeing the ball go through the basket early on,” France said.
Senior Kameron Shockley was the lone bright spot for Waterloo (12-11). The versatile guard poured in 21 points, converting nine shots from the field.
Grizer was perfect from long distance and Schuler finished with three 3-pointers. Wallbrown and France ended with two apiece.
The victory sets the No. 5 seed Panthers up against No. 4 seed Canton Central Catholic. Schindewolf knows the Crusaders will get physical with his team, but France believes in his guys.
“We’ll definitely have our hands full getting prepared this week,” France said. “We just need to keep the momentum because we played really well tonight.”