Manchester doesn’t have ‘hiccup,’ ends Rochester’s season in sectional semis
- Val T.
- Mar 8
- 7 min read
Baugher scores 14 to lead Zebras in prep finale
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WABASH — Manchester boys basketball coach Eli Henson saw the film from Rochester’s 64-51 win over Eastern (Greentown) in the sectional quarterfinals Tuesday.
He saw Drew Bowers shoot over and run around and through the Eastern defense for 34 points.
Stopping Bowers had to be the focal point of their strategy, and the Squires held Bowers scoreless in the first half and went on an 15-2 run covering the first and second quarters as they went on to beat the Zebras 71-46 Friday in a Class 2A, Sectional 38 semifinal at Wabash Friday.
No. 3 Manchester, in search of their first sectional title since 1995, improved to 21-2 and advanced to the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. tonight against Oak Hill.
“I knew coming in we needed to play well,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said. “And we needed them to have a little bit of a hiccup. But they didn’t. They came out, and they played really well and put us on our heels, and we just couldn’t get any rhythm. And Drew especially the way they defended him.”
Ethan Hendrix not only had the primary defensive responsibility on Bowers but also hit five 3-pointers without a miss and scored a game-high 23 points.
Gavin Betten, Manchester’s 6-6 center and a Grace College recruit, added 21 points and 11 rebounds. Betten, who is already the school and Wabash County career scoring leader, scored his 2,000th point on a hook in the first half to give Manchester a 21-8 lead.
Tallon Torpy added 12 points.
Bryce Baugher hit four 3-pointers and led Rochester (17-6) with 14 points. Bowers had seven, and Tanner Reinartz and Jack Reffett had six each.
“We knew what we had to do,” Henson said. “We have to take Bowers out of the game. He was the only one that was really looking to shoot outside of Tanner (Reinartz) a little bit on Tuesday night, so that was our game plan. We were going to do what we had to do – make him work. Make him get tired coming off screens. He just has a motor that doesn’t stop. And you can kind of see that his pressure is relentless all game long. And that’s the difference in the game. … If somebody took out Gavin and Ethan for us, we wouldn’t know what to do.
“So our guys did such a good job focusing on taking away those two guys but still doing a good job containing others and making them work. They might have taken two good shots the whole first half. Everything else, they had to work for, and that’s how we have to win.”
Rochester averaged 58.2 points per game for the season. Only twice in their previous 23 games were they held under the 46 they scored in this game, and one of those games was a 70-45 loss at Manchester in their conference meeting Jan. 24.
“They really clamped down on Drew,” Malchow said. “And obviously, Drew had a good night the other night. They were really handsy with all of us, especially Drew, and it was hard for us to get in a flow offensively obviously, and it just stayed that way throughout the game, and we got what we got.”
The other issue was Betten’s rim protection. Malchow said Rochester worked on a short jumper in the lane to prepare, but they wound up taking off-balance shots that Betten could block or alter at the rim.
“We work a lot on what I call the volleyball line shot, which is about 10 feet from the bucket,” Malchow said. “And I just said, the first quarter there, we were going too deep, and we really needed to pull up and shoot the open shot instead of taking one more dribble where Betten could make you change the shot or block it. When you’re doing that thing all year long when you’re able to go over people or at people and then you run across that team that won’t let you, it’s a hard adjustment.”
Bowers, Reinartz, Baugher, Owen Prater and Xavier Vance are Rochester’s graduating seniors.
Already leading 32-11 at halftime, Manchester started the second half on an 8-0 run to go up by 29.
None of the eight points during the run came from Hendrix or Betten. Instead Betten kicked to Torpy for a 3 and then fed Torpy for a layup. When Kaleb Kline hit a 3, the lead was 40-11, and Rochester never got closer than 22 after that.
The defensive obstacles against Manchester are considerable. Betten, who is fifth in the state in scoring at 26 ppg, can score in the post or step outside the arc and create an opportunity for himself off the bounce. And if you flock to him, there are 3-point shooters like Hendrix, Torpy and Kline.
“Really when Hendrix is shooting 3s and they’re knocking down 3s, it’s just hard to cover both, where you’re trying to get out on shooters,” Malchow said. “So we’re trying to drop a guy down to double-team Betten. We did OK early in the game, and then, they start putting 3s on us, and now you’ve got to pick your poison, and it’s not fun when you’re doing that.”
Henson said that his team has seen nothing but zone from opposing team as no team typically has anybody who can match up with Betten man to man.
“Rochester’s defense is always what scares me,” Henson said. “They’re physical. They’re strong. And they do such a good job just if that ball gets in the middle, they swipe at the ball. They do such a good job. So for us to be able to hit some outside shots, that was the key.”
Bowers swiped a steal on Manchester’s first possession, but Rochester could not convert it into points, and Torpy hit a 3 from the right of the key to open the scoring. Hendrix hit two free throws, and Betten hit a left baseline turnaround to make it 7-0.
Rochester stayed within 10-6 thanks to 3s from Reinartz and Baugher, but Manchester went on a 9-0 run to go up by 13.
Hendrix hit a 3 before getting a layup off a steal. Torpy finished a weak-side lob on the first play after a timeout to make it 19-6.
Carson Paulik hit a 15-footer, but a Betten hook, a Dallas Martin putback and Betten layin in transition off an Aaron Reid assist made it a 17-point lead.
Zebra notes
Assistant coach Luke Smith and his wife Cassie were in attendance. Their 16-month son Ford was discharged March 1 from a Florida hospital after a three-week stay. In a social media post, Luke Smith said multiple doctors came into Ford’s hospital room and called him a “miracle baby.”
Ford’s health downturn became the rallying cry of the #FordStrong campaign that was highlighted by all the players and coaches on both sides wearing #FordStrong shirts for the Feb. 22 game against Peru.
Malchow was among those sporting a #FordStrong bracelet Friday.
“It did their heart good,” Malchow said. “We’ve all been obviously still wearing the Ford thing, and it’s just a family-type thing there, and we’re just thankful they’re home, and everybody’s doing better.”
This marked the third time in the last nine years that Manchester has knocked Rochester out of the sectional. Manchester’s wins over the Zebras in the 2017, 2019 and 2025 sectionals came by an average margin of 22.7 ppg.
Henson’s grandfather is the late Floyd Henson, who was the last boys basketball coach at Akron High School (1963-74) and the first coach at Tippecanoe Valley High School (1974-78). Henson’s father Dave is an assistant on Eli’s staff. Dave Henson is a 1968 Akron grad who played for his father and later coached the Caston boys, North Miami boys and North Miami girls teams, among others.
In Friday’s second semifinal, R.J. Shugart scored 23 points, and Chase Tonagel added 12 to lead Oak Hill to a 55-46 win over Lewis Cass. Landon Cruzan and Luke Elzinga added eight each. Oak Hill went 9 for 10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 14 for 16 for the game. Only two of Oak Hill’s 55 points were scored by seniors.
Oak Hill improved to 17-6. They lost to Manchester 76-36 Nov. 30 in their regular season meeting.
Brennan Deeter led Lewis Cass with 13 points, and Trey Johnson added 10. Johnson fouled out with 8.3 seconds left after picking up a technical foul for his fifth personal. Lewis Cass finished 6-18. They have only one senior starter.
Manchester 71, Rochester 46
MANCHESTER (71) (21-2)
Aaron Reid 0 0-0 0, Ethan Hendrix 8 2-2 23, Kaleb Kline 2 0-0 6, Tallon Torpy 5 0-0 12, Gavin Betten 9 3-4 21, Wyatt Schroll 1 0-0 2, Wyatt Prater 0 0-0 0, Nolan Hernandez 0 0-0 0, Carson Heath 0 0-0 0, Dallas Martin 1 0-0 2, Carter Wagoner 1 1-2 3, Nick Cave 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 28 6-8 71
ROCHESTER (46) (17-6)
Drew Bowers 3 0-0 7, Carson Paulik 1 0-0 2, Bryce Baugher 5 0-0 14, Tanner Reinartz 2 0-0 6, Owen Prater 2 0-0 4, Mitchell Clark 0 0-0 0, Brady Coleman 1 0-0 2, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Jonas Kiser 0 0-0 0, Grant Clark 2 0-1 4, Jack Reffett 2 0-0 6, Xavier Vance 0 1-2 1
TEAM: 18 1-3 46
Three-point field goals:
Manchester 9 (Hendrix 5, Torpy 2, Kline 2),
Rochester 9 (Baugher 4, Reinartz 2, Reffett 2, Bowers)
Total fouls: Manchester 9, Rochester 13
Turnovers: Manchester 15, Rochester 13
Score by quarters
Manchester 12 20 24 15 – 71
Rochester 6 5 18 17 – 46
Oak Hill 55, Lewis Cass 46
OAK HILL (55) (17-6)
Owen Middlesworth 1 0-0 2, R.J. Shugart 8 4-4 23, Jace Tonagel 2 7-8 12, Landon Watts 0 0-0 0, Landon Cruzan 3 2-3 8, Beckham Lamb 1 0-0 2, Luke Elzinga 3 1-1 8, Ryan Lawson 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 18 14-16 55
LEWIS CASS (46) (6-18)
Trey Johnson 4 1-2 10, Brennan Deeter 4 2-2 13, Bryce Rudd 3 0-0 7, Owen Cotner-Graves 0 2-2 2, Brody Hillis 2 0-0 5, Kolten Young 2 0-0 5, Nolan Hahn 0 0-0 0, Julian Levine 2 0-0 4, Wade Tocco 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 17 5-6 46
Three-point field goals:
Oak Hill 5 (Shugart 3, Tonagel, Elzinga),
Lewis Cass 7 (Deeter 3, Johnson, Rudd, Hillis, Young)
Total fouls: Oak Hill 13, Lewis Cass 19
Fouled out: Johnson (LC), :08.3, fourth
Technical foul: Johnson (LC), :08.3, fourth
Turnovers: Oak Hill 7, Lewis Cass 12
Score by quarters
Oak Hill 13 15 15 12 – 55
Lewis Cass 12 11 12 11 – 46
Comments