Manning’s hot shot helps Middies win

Jonny Manning is used to scoring points, as his 16.5 scoring average will attest. The Midview forward is a dominant force in the paint, posting up defenders and gobbling up enough rebounds to lead all area players with an 11.4 average.

But this was a whole new world for the 6-foot-6 senior. On Jan. 17, Manning made five 3-pointers — more than he had made in the season’s first 12 games — on his way to 33 points, as the visiting Middies outshot Westlake in a long-range fest, taking an 80-71 Southwestern Conference victory. Manning also led all players with 13 rebounds and five blocks.

With the victory, Midview, which made a season-high 14 3-pointers, maintains its grasp on the SWC, moving to 11-2 overall and 8-1 in league play. The Demons, who made 12 3-pointers, are now 8-4 and 6-3, good for a threeway tie for second place.

“Once I saw the first 3 go in, I just felt good,” Manning said. “My teammates and my coaches have the utmost confidence in me to keep shooting. I work on them in practice, but I haven’t really busted out one like that. It felt good.”

Ironically, Manning isn’t really known as an outside shooter. In fact, when asked when the Midview standout became a shooter, Midview coach Jim Brabenec said with a straight face, “Tonight.”

“It’s no secret,” Brabenec continued. “He used to not be a shooter. But he worked at it and worked at it and worked at it, and he’s able to hit (five) 3s in a game. It’s a good example for everyone in our program. There’s no secret to success.”

Manning said the shooting stroke was developed over long hours during the summer.

“This offseason I worked countless hours in the gym with (Brabenec) and the other players,” he said. “We got shots up every day and that really developed me as a shooter.”

But until this game, it had never surfaced in competition.

There were no real indications early in the game that this might be a special shooting night for Manning, who hit 8 of 13 shots, including 5 of 7 from long range. He scored seven points in the opening quarter, which ended with a 10-0 Midview run to take a 22-14 lead. But all the points came to Manning in the usual way — three free throws, a spinning layup and a midrange jumper.

“I went through my (pregame) routine like I do every day,” Manning said.

“Everything felt the same. I just knew I wanted to come out here and give my 100 for my team.”

It was the second quarter when things got special for Manning. He hit four 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, but Westlake also got hot and battled its way back into the game. Westlake junior Cal Reghi hit three 3s less than 3 minutes apart to bring the Demons back to within 3836. Reghi finished with 11 points off the bench. Justin

Garcia led Westlake with 20, and Nate Klima had 17.

Manning closed out the half on a roll, hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key, followed by a driving layup 30 seconds later. A minute later Manning made a nice pass to Aden Gregory on a backdoor cut, and the ensuing layup gave the Middies a 43-38 halftime lead.

“I thought we played really well in the first half,” Westlake coach Jeff Huber said. “But he’s an excellent player. He shot the ball incredibly well. On a lot of those 3’s our guys had a hand up. He was just feeling it. It’s one of those things where you just tip your cap. Sometimes a guy just has his night.”

Manning hit his fifth and final 3-pointer early in the third quarter to give his team a 46-41 lead. After the teams traded baskets a few times, Westlake began struggling with ball control, ending the quarter with five turnovers and facing a 63-54 deficit.

“I thought in the third quarter we just got a little sloppy with the ball,” Huber said.

“We had four or five turnovers in the quarter and then they got three or four offensive rebounds. That’s four less shots that we got and four more that they got. That swing of eight shots is the difference between being down 10 at the end of the third or being right there.”

The Middies pulled away not because of Manning, but because Gregory stepped up and hit three 3s of his own in the third quarter. The sophomore finished the night with 16 points as the Midview starters accounted for all 80 points. Nyco Vidal added 12 points, Tyler Dawson had 10 and Marcell Young had nine.

“It was hard,” Huber said.

“You want to give more attention to Manning or Young, but then somebody else steps up and hits a 3. That’s why they’re a good team. I tip my cap. It was their night and I thought they played really, really well.”

Westlake cut the lead to six, 66-60 with 6:30 to play, but the Middies went on a 9-2 run to put to rest any hopes of a comeback. Manning accentuated the victory with a dunk with 32 seconds remaining. He was fouled on the play, and the free throw gave Midview a 78-68 lead.

Midview entered the game with a one-game lead in the loss column over Westlake, Amherst and Avon Lake. However, all three second place teams lost, giving the Middies a two-game cushion at the conference season’s midpoint.

“Our conference is tough,” Brabenec said. “It’s going to be a grind in the second half. We’re in the lead by ourselves, but there’s a cluster of teams behind us. I’ll take the position we’re in over anybody else’s, but it’s going to be a long second half. We have a long way to go.”

At the time he said that, Brabenec was unaware that the other three teams had all lost.

“It’s no secret. He used to not be a shooter. But he worked at it and worked at it and worked at it, and he’s able to hit (five) 3s in a game. It’s a good example for everyone in our program. There’s no secret to success.” — Midview coach Jim Brabenec on Jonny Manning