Lancers, Titans work out rust before playoffs

After an almost two week layoff from competition, the Manchester boys’ varsity basketball team kept things close against district top-ranked Cosby Thursday night, but the Titans pulled away in the second quarter for a 68-43 win.

The Titans had trouble getting inside in the first quarter but employed a patient offense in the second, allowing senior center Matt Gorski to get open. He scored seven of his nine first-half points in the second quarter.

Gorski scored three on a beautiful fast break play from David Robinson. Robinson stole a save attempt by Manchester along the right sideline and tossed the ball ahead to Gorski who got the bucket and drew a foul.

Gorski capped a 12-0 run for Cosby with a conventional layup to end the half and the Titans took a 30-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Scoring runs were the main headline for the Titans. They went on an 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter and a 6-0 run to start the fourth.

Manchester got its offensive spark from guard Aaron Wilson. Wilson hit five 3-pointers in the game, including one from near center court at the buzzer to end the third quarter.

Wilson gave the Lancers their only lead of the night in the first quarter with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with two minutes remaining in the first quarter. He nailed a second 30 seconds later to extend the lead to four, but Cosby answered with a three from Nick Coppola. The Titans regained the lead on a layup from Gorski to end the quarter.

“We were worried about [Manchester],” Robinson said. “They’re really athletic, and we’re a lot bigger than them, so we were worried about them taking us off the dribble. We just had to contain them.”

Robinson led Cosby with 22 points and five rebounds. Gorski added 14 points and eight rebounds.

Wilson led Manchester with 20 points and six rebounds.

Both teams are preparing for district playoffs which begin next week.

The Titans will likely take the top seed and say the key is just to keep doing what they’re doing. “Get the ball inside to the big fella’ [Gorski] and keep playing the way we have been,” Robinson said.

Manchester will likely enter the district tournament as the seventh seed.