Girls

The Lady Mustangs entered Tuesday night’s game 1-2 this season, coming off of a loss in their final game at the Hays City Shootout. Manhattan, another tough opponent at the front of Central’s schedule, jumped out to an early lead in the first half.

The first quarter was back and forth through the opening minutes with Manhattan grabbing an early 9-8 lead, but it was an 11-0 run to end the quarter that set the Lady Mustangs back. Delaney Larson and Avery Ingram led the Indians early on the offensive end, helping lead Manhattan to a 22-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was a similar story for Salina Central as the 11-0 run to end the first quarter for Manhattan bled over into the start of the second quarter and it was a 17-0 run for the Indians before the Mustangs finally got a bucket. Macy O’Hara was a bright spot for Central in the first half knocking down two threes. At the end of the first half, it was Manhattan with the lead 39-14.

The Lady Mustangs, despite being down big at half, played a much cleaner second half of basketball. The turnovers were cut down tremendously and they changed to a zone defense for most of the second half to help defend the paint, an area that Manhattan dominated in the first half. Lexi Guerreo and Grace Ostmeyer had big second half’s offensively, as Central was able to outscore the Indians 30-16 in the second half but fell short by a final score of 65-44.

Boys

Salina Central entered Tuesday’s ballgame 1-2 this season under second year Head Coach Chris Fear. The Mustangs, a team that is led by two talented Sophmores Kaden Nienke and Grant Ostmeyer, have been limited on practice time to begin the season but have a nice mixture of youth and experience to make them a dangerous team as the season continues.  A dominant second half surge by Manhattan led to a Mustangs loss on Tuesday night.

The first quarter got off to a slow start for Salina Central as they found themselves trailing 16-9 at the end of one. Will Carpenter got the scoring started for Manhattan while Greyson Jones for Central continued to show why he’s so dangerous in the paint.

A back-and-forth battle in the second quarter found the Mustangs with their first lead of the game right before the half, but a late three pointer from Henry Witt gave the Indians a 28-27 lead heading into the locker room. Greyson Jones finished with 12 first half points for the Mustangs, 10 of those coming in the paint.

The second half went about as bad for the Mustangs as it possibly could have. A plethora of turnovers committed by Salina Central, along with dominant performances from Will Carpenter and Sawyer Newton for Manhattan saw the second half slip away from the Mustangs as they would ultimately fall by a final score of 75-59.  Kaden Nienke and Greyson Jones both had good performances offensively, scoring 15 and 18 respectively.

Both teams will be back in action on Friday night to take on cross town rival Salina South.