Manual captures LIT title

[OYPreps]

Beating three top 15 teams straight (J-Town, DeSales, Eastern), Manual captures the Louisville Invitational with a win over Eastern in overtime. Aaron Williams, Jacob Jenkins, and Tony Kimbro Jr. make all tourney team. It was a well-balanced attack with Williams leading is assists per game, Jenkins in points per game, and Kimbro in rebound per game for the event.

 

After playing that tournament and schedule, the reward is a matchup with top 10 ranked Ballard Wednesday night.

 

All-tournament team: Jacob Jenkins, Tony Kimbro Jr., Aaron Williams (Manual); Delquan Thomas, Dominique Sangester, Steven Ferguson (Eastern); T.J. Pryor, Ian Chiles (Ballard); Jeff Mullaney, James Melloan (DeSales); Ridge Wilson (Central); Nick Gagel (Jeffersontown); Jon Hood (Madisonville-North Hopkins).

[westsider]

Sounds like Manual didn't miss a beat after one of their best players took off for greener pastures ... or maybe that was part of the problem.

[OYPreps]

Sounds like Manual didn't miss a beat after one of their best players took off for greener pastures ... or maybe that was part of the problem.

 

Cosby is a loss for Manual, but they still have a lot talent and two legit D-1 players there in Kimbro Jr and Jenkins. Manual has some of the best offensive talents in the state. But the key is, those offensive talents are now becoming defensive players too.

[Bear78]

Nice game last night. First time I've seen Manual play this season. They played pretty well as a team.

I would creadit their success to some obviously talented players and a coaching staff that makes efforts to develop the talent and take advantage of the talent on the bench.

With so much talent it's good to see Coach Just refuse to "showcase" any one player. Team play and fundamentals will win games - most of the time...:ylsuper:

[OYPreps]

Nice game last night. First time I've seen Manual play this season. They played pretty well as a team.

I would creadit their success to some obviously talented players and a coaching staff that makes efforts to develop the talent and take advantage of the talent on the bench.

With so much talent it's good to see Coach Just refuse to "showcase" any one player. Team play and fundamentals will win games - most of the time...:ylsuper:

 

The bench played a huge role in every game. And it's true, Manual doesn't play to showcase.

 

Some numbers for the title run. Jenkins was the top scorer with 16 points per game while hitting over 60% from over the field and made half of his 3's. Kimbro averaged at 11 points but cleared 9 boards per game. Unreal number for a freshman. Williams struggled from the field but led Manual in assists at 6 per game and averaged 14 points. Samsel had a big game against J'Town off the bench and the 6-9 sophomore Alex Nicholic (sp) was huge defensively and rebouding off the bench throughout the tournament too. Lawson who was quietly getting the job done defensively during the tourney came alive in a crucial overtime to score 7 points to cap the title.

 

Result, Manuals first LIT crown since 1959.

[TonyDanza]

Nice job Manual! :thumb:

[Bigcat08]

Sounds like Manual didn't miss a beat after one of their best players took off for greener pastures ... or maybe that was part of the problem.

 

 

 

Where did he go?

[All Tell]

Manual has one of the best coaches in town.

[Orca1]

Congrats to Manual and Coach Just, his kids played well and they deserved to win. I would like to say that Coach Couch from Eastern deserves they same credit. Afterall, his teams are generally picked 6-9 in the district every preseason. They only have 3 losses this year, by 5pts at Shelby Co., 1pt at Ballard and now in OT to Manual. It seems to me that he is often overlooked when the topic of "Best Coach" in the region is discussed. Just MHO.