Manchester was on a Schroll: Squires’ guard scores 31 in win over Rochester

Kiser scores 17, Spence adds 10, but Zebras give up 11-2 game-closing run

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

JONAS KISER

The Rochester boys basketball team led Manchester 47-43 with 2:20 left when Manchester coach Pat Lepper called timeout.

In the possession after the timeout, Manchester guard Wyatt Schroll threw up an air ball from 23 feet out that landed out of bounds.

The Zebras had the ball. But instead of closing out the Squires, Manchester closed out the Zebras with an 8-0 run to win 51-47.

It marked the second straight Friday that Rochester could not hold onto a fourth quarter lead against a conference and sectional rival. Rochester led Lewis Cass 44-36 with 3:50 left last week only to lose 49-45. This time, they led 45-40 with 3:22 left.

In between, Rochester also erased an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to win at Twin Lakes in two overtimes on Jan. 10 and rallied from an eight-point deficit after three quarters to beat Caston 51-50 Tuesday.

“We’ve been in this position a lot lately,” Rochester coach Luke Smith said. “We’re splitting them 50-50 right now. That’s a tough one because that’s one I felt like we really should have won.”

Schroll, a 5-10 sophomore guard, led Manchester with 31 points, including the game-tying free throws with 1:24 left and the go-ahead free throws with 43.4 seconds left that gave Manchester a 49-47 lead. Aaron Reid added 10, including eight in the fourth quarter. Reid also made three critical defensive plays in the fourth quarter, including drawing an offensive foul on Jonas Kiser with 10.6 seconds left and the Squires hanging on to a two-point lead.

Kiser led Rochester with 17 points and eight rebounds. Liam Spence had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Manchester made seven 3-pointers as compared to Rochester’s one. Manchester also went 8 for 8 from the foul line – including 6 for 6 in the final 1:24 – in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Rochester was 12 for 21 from the line.

Manchester also committed only eight turnovers while Rochester had 17.

Manchester improved to 5-9 overall and 2-3 in the Three Rivers Conference. Rochester dropped to 5-7, 1-3.

The teams could meet again in Class 2A, Sectional 38, which Manchester will host from March 3-7.

“Number one got loose and lost so many times when we were playing defense on him,” Smith said of Schroll, referring to him by uniform number. “That was frustrating. Once a dude lights you up for 19 in the first half, you should know where he is in the second half too. And we did a little bit better job, but he’s crafty and he’s smooth. He’s not a big kid, but he’s very talented.”

After Schroll’s air ball, Reid deflected away a pass intended for Kiser. Teammate Carson Heath picked it up and threw a hit-ahead pass to Reid, who finished in transition.

Manchester set up in a halfcourt trap, but Jack Reffett slung a pass that led Mitchell Clark to the rim. But Reid was waiting for him and blocked the shot.

Smith thought Reid fouled Clark.

“I could hear the slapped hand on the shot on Mitchell there,” Smith said. “We really don’t need that bucket either, so we don’t need to force it in there. Another thing, and we’ll learn from it, is we don’t need to take 3s. We talked about it after the Lewis Cass game. This one’s frustrating.”

Heath outletted to Schroll, who drove into the lane and drew a blocking foul on Reffett. Schroll made the game-tying free throws.

Rochester advanced the ball past halfcourt against the trap. Smith called timeout with 1:12 left. Three seconds after the timeout, Rochester’s Carson Paulik threw a pass intended for Clark from the sidelines to the middle of the court. Clark started the play in the backcourt and jumped into the frontcourt to make the catch. Officials ruled that Clark had not established himself in the frontcourt and called the Zebras for over and back.

“Silly turnovers down the stretch continue to hurt us,” Smith said.

Manchester took 26 seconds off the clock before Clark fouled Schroll on a drive to the basket. Schroll made two more free throws to give Manchester a 49-47 lead.

After a timeout with 40.0 seconds left, Clark would get the ball in the right corner. He would drive the baseline and pass to an open Spence in the corner. Spence missed a 3, but Clark leaped up and knocked the rebound over to Spence. Spence rose up and tried to pass to Kiser, but Carson Heath fouled him with 13.3 seconds left.

Rochester called a timeout. Manchester called a timeout.

Kiser took the inbounds pass behind the arc and drove to the foul line where Reid was waiting for him. Kiser was called for an offensive foul with 10.6 seconds left.

Clark fouled Martin with 7.7 seconds left, and Martin hit the clinching free throws.

Consistently going downhill to the basket, Rochester scored the first six points and built the lead as large as 13-6 in the first quarter.

Manchester scored the first six points of the second quarter to take their first lead at 18-17 on Reid’s runner in the lane, a transition layup from Schroll and a Schroll driving banker.

Kiser split a pair of free throws, but Schroll connected on a 3.

Brady Coleman split a pair of free throws and then missed a pair. Then he hit a tough transition floater to tie it at 21. A Kiser steal and layup put Rochester back ahead, but Schroll hit a 3-pointer and two free throws to put Manchester back up 26-23.

A Carson Paulik 15-footer from the right baseline got the Zebras back within one at halftime.

Manchester held Rochester without a field goal the first 3:25 of the second half, but Kiser recovered his own blocked shot and put it back and was fouled to get Rochester back within 31-30.

Spence gave Rochester their first lead of the second half when he dropped in a layup after Kiser’s pass deflected off a Manchester player’s shin right to him.

A Schroll driving runner and a Schroll transition layup put Manchester back up by three before Clark drove and scored with six seconds left.

Reid started the fourth quarter with a 3 from the right wing. Reffett hit a cutting runner off a Paulik assist, but Schroll hit two free throws with 6:00 left to make it 40-36.

Rochester then answered with a 9-0 run. Reffett had an assist on a Paulik 3-pointer – it was Rochester’s only trey – Spence hit a 17-footer, Spence scored on a back door cut, and Kiser hit a fadeaway 10-footer.

Manchester called a 30-second timeout, and then Reid buried a 3 from the left corner. But Kiser beat Martin off the dribble and laid it in for a four-point lead.

In the JV game, Aiden Wilson scored 12 points in Rochester’s 44-29 win. Van Kiser added eight; Taylor Howard, Linden Wilburn and Alex Chapman had five each; Owen Lett had four; Grayson Miller had three; and Parker Casper had two.

Manchester 51, Rochester 47

MANCHESTER (51) (5-9, 2-3)

Wyatt Schroll 10 8-9 31, Aaron Reid 4 0-0 10, Parker Satterthwaite 1 0-0 3, Carson Heath 1 0-0 2, Dallas Martin 1 2-2 5, Jonathan Miller 0 0-0 0, Samuel Winger 0 0-0 0, Lincoln Young 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 17 10-11 51

ROCHESTER (47) (5-7, 1-3)

Carson Paulik 2 0-0 5, Brady Coleman 1 1-4 3, Liam Spence 4 2-2 10, Jack Reffett 3 1-2 7, Jonas Kiser 5 7-11 17, Mitchell Clark 1 1-2 3, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 0 0-0 0, Grant Clark 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 17 12-21 47

Three-point field goals:

Manchester 7 (Schroll 3, Reid 2, Martin, Satterthwaite),

Rochester 1 (Paulik)

Total fouls: Manchester 18, Rochester 14

Fouled out: Heath (MAN), :13.3, fourth

Turnovers: Manchester 8, Rochester 17

Score by quarters

Manchester 12 14 9 16 – 51

Rochester 17 8 9 13 – 47

JV: Rochester 44, Manchester 29