Dodge City swept at Manhattan

Manhattan, KS(westernkansasnews.com) The Manhattan Indians rolled past the Dodge City Red Demons in a basketball doubleheader Friday night, winning the girls’ game, 62-30, and the boys’ game, 83-61.

In the girls’ game, the defending state champions started fast, breaking an early 2-2 tie with a 13-0 run, as Manhattan built a 22-4 1st quarter lead over Dodge City. The Lady Demons endured a six-minute scoring drought in the opening quarter and then went another five minutes until scoring their third basket of the night, four minutes into the 2nd quarter. By then, the Lady Indians led 33-6, and went to the locker room with a 38-15 halftime lead.

Manhattan turned Dodge City’s 16 1st half turnovers into 17 points and the Lady Demons shot only 28% in the opening half.

Dodge City’s Chidera Okoro scored 10 of her team-high 12 points in the 2nd half as the Lady Demons played the Lady Indians even through the 3rd quarter, before Manhattan finished the game on an 11-3 run.

K-State signee Chrissy Carr led Manhattan with15 points and 6 rebounds. Chidera Okoro had 12 points and 6 rebounds for Dodge City, followed by Ezinne Okoro with 8. The Lady Demons committed 24 turnovers to the Lady Indians’ 13 and shot 28% for the game, including just 1 of 12 from three-point range and 5 of 9 from the free throw line.

The Dodge City girls are now 1-1 on the young season.

In the boys’ game, the Red Demons started well, but didn’t finish well. After Manhattan grabbed an early 3-2 lead, Dodge City took control, building a 20-11 lead late in the 1st quarter, scoring 7 points off 5 Indian turnovers. Manhattan finished the 1st quarter on a 6-2 run to close the deficit to 5 at 22-17.

Dodge City pushed the lead back to 8, 27-19, early in the 2nd quarter, but Manhattan kept coming, finally tying the game at 33, with just over two minutes left in the half, and then taking the lead, 35-33, a few seconds later after a turnover. The Red Demons would regain the lead once more, 36-35, but the Indians scored the last four points of the half to lead 39-36 at halftime.

Dodge City came out shooting cold and turned the ball over nine times in the 3rd quarter, as Manhattan raced out to a 63-42 3rd quarter lead, outscoring the Red Demons 24-6. Dodge City hit just 2 of 11 shots in that quarter, while Manhattan hit 10 of 15. The Red Demons couldn’t mount a challenge in the 4th quarter and both coaches cleared their benches in the final minutes, as Dodge City fell 83-61.

The Red Demons committed 30 turnovers with the Indians scoring 34 points off of them. Manhattan added 13 2nd-chance points to Dodge City’s 7. For the game, the Red Demons shot 44% from the field, after shooting 56% in the 1st half. Dodge City hit 6 of 14 treys, including Luke Gleason going 4-for-4 beyond the arc. Gleason led the Red Demons with 17 points, followed by Hunter Heath with 15, Noah Sowers with 11 and Dawson Williams with 10 points and 7 boards. Manhattan’s John Ostermann led all scorers with 18.

Dodge City falls to 0-2 on the year.

The Red Demons boys and girls teams travel to Hugoton on Tuesday.