The Manchester Academy Mavericks brought home a district win after another rivalry match-up against the Benton Academy Raiders.
Manchester's Coach Jacob Iles said that the Mavericks had a slow start at the beginning, but were able to pick up the pace during the game.
"Benton shoots the ball very well at their place," said Coach Iles, "We were able to close out their shooters and make them earn their shots."
Well placed defense from the Raiders slowed down the Mavericks in the first quarter, which ended with Manchester leading 14-10. By half time the Mavericks were ahead 33-21 despite the offensive efforts of the Raiders.
"I felt like in the first half we played a pretty fair defense," said Benton's Coach Steve Flemming. "They like to get out and run so we were trying to slow the tempo down a little bit, and I felt like we did a pretty good job."
After a break at the half, the Manchester boys began to widen the gap on the scoreboard in the third quarter, leading the way with a score of 45-30.
Unable to stop the penetration from the Maverick offense, the Raiders fell behind 63-35 at the end of the fourth quarter.
Adding big points to the board for Manchester were Jon Riley Poe with 17 points, and Parks Poe with 16 points.
"Hayes Bardwell had his best game of the year with 13 points and nine rebounds," said Coach Iles. "He was definitely a force inside and we keyed off of that."
Standing out on offense for Benton were Dylan Moore with 11 points and Arion Warren with 10.
"I just felt like we did a pretty good job as a team on defense just slowing them down," said Coach Flemming. "I felt like we had a good game plan and I think we stuck to it and did pretty good there for three quarters."
The Manchester Mavericks, now hold a record of 8 wins and 6 losses after falling to Greenville St. Joe 46-50 last week. With a district record of 2-1, the Mavericks look forward to more games on the road, traveling to Greenville Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 15, and Tri-County on Thursday, Jan. 17.
The Benton Raiders now have an overall record of 1-15, and are currently 0-4 in district. The Raiders look forward to traveling to Tri-County on Tuesday, Jan. 15, and Greenville St. Joe on Friday, Jan. 18, and will host Winona at home on Thursday, Jan. 17.
