After narrowly falling to Greenville Christian in overtime in the first round of the district tournament, the Mavericks of Manchester Academy salvaged a third-place finish with a win over Tri-County Academy.
An exciting, albeit not high scoring, quarter kicked off the contest.
The pace was fast and intense, and each team desperately fought to get to the goal.
With only a couple of seconds left on the clock, Upton Hitt tossed up a three from deep, hitting it to give the Mavs a 9-8 advantage after the first quarter.
As time expired at the half, the Mavs once again hit a 3-pointer right before the buzzer. Parks Poe nailed one from deep to help Manchester outscore Greenville Christian 16-10 to take a 25-19 lead into the half.
In the third quarter, the Saints’ defense stiffened up tremendously, holding the Mavs to six points while their offense scored 10 to cut the lead to 31-29.
The running and high-paced offense continued in the fourth quarter, and the game was clearly coming down to the wire.
With 0:27 remaining in the game, the Saints got a steal and scored on a breakaway layup to go up 44-42.
Manchester freshman Dylan Dendy stepped up and made the play that was needed most for his team when he hit a layup to tie it up at 44-44 as time expired.
They headed into overtime.
GCS went up early in overtime, forcing Manchester to chase them.
The Mavs were able to cut their lead to 52-51 for a moment, but the Saints managed to pull away to 54-51.
A momentary lapse in judgment by a GCS player, who walked with the ball thinking the game was over, allowed Manchester a final shot.
Unfortunately for the Mavs, they were unable to convert it, making the final score 54-51.
The loss dropped Manchester down into the third-place game, where they met up with a familiar foe.
MA vs. TCA
Paired up with rival TCA and both bragging rights and a better seeding on the line, the battle began.
Manchester hit their stride in the game, rolling to a 69-55 win to claim third place.
The Mavericks face off with Carroll Academy tonight in the first round of the north state tournament.
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at Benton Academy.
