With a ticket to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship on the line, the Bluffton University Men’s Basketball team traveled to North Manchester, Ind., to face the Manchester University Spartans on Wednesday, Feb. 14.
The Beavers would ultimately come up short, losing 85-81 and falling to a 10-14 record on the season and 7-10 in the conference. Manchester’s record was boosted by the win bringing them to 6-18 overall and 4-13 inside of the conference.
The game was tightly contested throughout.
Manchester came out on top early, when Andrew Renner (Cairo/Bath) fouled Brody Kirby (Frankfort, Ind./Frankfort) behind the arch. Kirby would knock all three free-throws and just a little over the first minute Manchester was up 8-4.
The first half was a see-saw contest, where the lead was always within grasp.
The Beavers and Spartans would trade blows for the next 17 minutes. The lead changed 12 times and the score always being within one possession.
The Spartans would eventually take a four-point lead with just under one minute to play in the first half.
Manchester would go into halftime with a 43-39 lead.
Kevin Christie (Dayton/Bishop Fenwick) and Andrew Hunter (Arlington) lead the charge for the Beavers in the first half with eight points apiece.
Adrian Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind./Fall Creek), Justin Lukens (Herrin, Ill./Kentucky Wesleyan), and Kirby lead the floor in the first half with 15, 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Spartans started off hot again in the second half, going on a 7-2 run and giving them a 50-41 lead.
Bluffton would not recover, never taking the lead again.
The Spartans biggest lead would come with less than eight minutes left to go in the half, leading 68-56.
The game ended just as it started, with Brody Kirby knocking free-throws, giving the Spartans the win, 85-81.
Christie would lead the Beavers with 26 points, though four others had double-digit efforts. Andrew Hunter and Renner had 14 points each, while Aaron Rich (Greenville) and Isiah Taylor (Yellow Springs) had 11 apiece.
The men play their final regular season game this Saturday, Feb. 17, against the Franklin College Grizzlies. The winner gains the six seed in the HCAC tournament, which takes place next week.
You can listen to that game on 96.1 the Wit starting at 4 p.m.
