Manila posts first win, defeats Riverside 55-47

Manila scored the first eight points of Friday night's game against rival Riverside and went on to post a 55-47 victory over the Rebels at Lake City. The win evened Manila's record at 1-1 on the season while Riverside fell to 5-2 on the year.

Manila began the game with back to back three pointers from Zack Day and Brady Jones and a 14-foot jumper from Day to take an 8-0 lead. The Lions held a 15-6 lead after the first quarter and led 21-12 at the half. Manila stretched its lead to 13 points at the end of the third period, thanks to three treys during the quarter, two by Day and one by Jones.

Riverside fell behind by as many as 19 points, 47-28, with 5:57 left in the game, after back to back treys by Day to go along with two free throws by the senior point guard before Riverside mounted a late rally behind Caleb Waugh, who drilled four three pointers in the final frame and five in the second half. But the late scoring surge by the Rebels was too little too late, as the Lions held on for the victory.

"I was very disappointed in the way we played tonight," said Riverside Coach Buster Campbell. "We've got to get a lot tougher. We didn't run our stuff. They got us rattled or whatever. They beat us on the boards. We couldn't keep up with their defensive assignments. We let 14 (Day) go nuts. We are going to have to get a lot better. I was very disappointed in our effort. We've got to get some guys to play better than that. They outworked us. They just played better than we did."

"I thought Dillon Burrow's defense on Cole Winford was a big key tonight," said Manila Coach Bill Taylor. "Zack Day did an outstanding job on Logan Meurer. I think we held them to 10 points combined. Zack had a great offensive night also. He's a senior who has been waiting his turn. Scott Eubanks also played an excellent game. He's coming on as fast as any player I've ever coached. I thought his energy in the post against Alteeno Sain was a big key. He kind of neutralized him to a degree. I thought Brady Jones played an outstanding game. He shot the ball well and dished out a lot of assists to Day during our run. Riverside made a good run at us late in the game. We are just fortunate they didn't make those shots in the first half. We still need to work on our post play. We need to get better, but I was proud of our kids tonight."

Day led Manila with a game high 22 points, including five three pointers, while Jones poured in 18 more, including three treys. Eubanks also hit double digits, scoring 10. Burrow had three points while Blake Carr added two.

Manila finished 10-14 from the foul stripe and drilled eight treys on the night.

Waugh came off the bench and drained five three pointers in the second half to finish with a team high score 15 points to lead Riverside. Winford and Dylan Wright had eight points apiece while Braden Peaster chipped in six. Sain and Morgan Fletcher netted four points each while Meurer tallied two.

Riverside went to the line four times, missing all four attempts. The Rebels finished with nine three pointers on the evening.

In junior high action, Riverside defeated Manila 48-41. Seventh grader Gavin Stone drilled four treys and scored a game high 14 points to lead the Rebels. Victor Cerda and Gunner Tyler added eight points apiece while Brandon Sain and Levi Reed scored seven points each. Kollin Stone and Brett Snyder added two points apiece to round out the Rebel scoring.

Daniel Dees led Manila with 12 points while Thomas Davis added 10 more to lead the Lions. Gavin Parker scored eight, Kyle Joyner tallied seven while Alldonn Skelton and Caleb Reinhart added two points apiece.

Manila will return to action Tuesday night when they host Corning in a 3A-3 conference game on the road before returning home Friday night to take on Hoxie in another conference tilt.

Riverside will take on Marmaduke in a 2A-3 conference battle Tuesday night at Lake City before traveling to Monette to take on the Mustangs Friday night at the MAC.

The Junior Rebels will participate in the Bay Invitational Tournament beginning Monday night at 7:00 as the number three seed, and will play host Bay, the number six seeded team.