Photo by Bryan Oller
Lairden Rogge is ready to snag the ball if The Classical Academy player can’t control it.
The Manitou Springs boys basketball caught Florence on the wrong night. In a game that was rescheduled because of weather from a few weeks ago, the Huskies came into Manitou on Feb. 14 and put together their best performance of the season.
The Mustangs battled the best they could, but couldn’t cool down Florence’s hot hand and suffered a 69-53 loss to the Huskies.
Florence shot about 51 percent from the field, while the Mustangs (10-8 overall, 6-5 Tri-Peaks) hovered around 32 percent from both 3-point range and the floor overall.
“The physicality, I thought we shied away from certain situations,” coach Brian Vecchio said. “We just need to be a little more aggressive when it comes to being strong inside and grabbing rebounds.”
John Maynard let the Mustangs with 17 points while Andrew Rhodes added 16. The loss doesn’t necessarily end Manitou’s hopes for a top-four seed in districts as they still control their own destiny.
They played Woodland Park on Wednesday, Feb. 16, but results were not available at press time. Regardless of the outcome, the loss makes each potential win in the district tournament all the more important for the team.
“I feel like this is going to make us work 10 times harder in practice,” Anthony Snow said. “It’s going make us want each win that much more and really strive to play better.”
Wednesday’s game was also senior night for the team’s four departing members. The coaching staff and home crowd honored Snow, Parker Salladay, Ethan Boren, Davis Mack and Caleb Allen in their last regular season game for Manitou.
Looking back at the past four years, it was a time for them to reflect on what the program has meant to them.
“(I’m going to miss) the team in general,” Snow said. “It’s more like a family than a team.”
That family is looking to come together for the final stretch of the season.
Last week, the Mustangs beat The Classical Academy 57-51 in overtime. Maynard had a big night as he scored 27 points. The offense just looked more in sync and Vecchio hopes that, over the next couple of weeks, they take cues from that win and apply them moving forward.
“We had really good ball movement,” Vecchio said. “That has to be a focus of ours. We had 25 assists on 30 baskets that night which is incredibly difficult to do.”
Ball movement is essential in playing winning basketball and the Mustangs will look to utilize that over the next couple of weeks.