Manheim Township Submits December Statement As ‘Fresher’ Blue Streaks Handle Donegal, Find Growth In Lightened Early Season Load
Written by: Andy Herr on December 11, 2024
In years previous, it’d be fair to say that the Manheim Township Blue Streaks boys’ basketball program was rather aggressive shall we say in their schedule-making. To be sure, seeing Township play game after game, day after day, to begin the regular season slate almost seemed to be an expected norm of sorts. This year though, after taking those lessons learned in how to create a sustainable and fruitful runway when it comes to starting a year off, the Streaks have appeared to take a far more conservative approach this time around in 2024-25.
Then again, it’s not as if Manheim Township went to the bakery and loaded up on nothing but cupcakes either. Not when you start things off with one of your most bitter of rivals, a team that is also perhaps the squad that the Vegas odd-makers would have pegged as the current league favorite, Warwick, before then kicking off your own tip-off tournament against a defending District 3 champion before which preceded a matchup against a state playoff team of a year ago –with an All-State player to boot — when talking about Columbia and Central Dauphin respectively to follow suit that Township lined up against this past Friday and Saturday. Even still, while sitting below .500 at 1-2 surely isn’t the desired record immediately out of the chute of course, the good news in Township camp is that there is plenty of tread left on tires in early December, a statement that would perhaps ring hollow when talking about the last couple of years in particular.
Conversely, their opponent on Tuesday night seemed to opt for the differing approach in beginning their 2024-25 campaign.
For the Donegal Indians, while a Tuesday trip to Manheim Township marked what would only be their fourth game of the year yet to date, Donegal began the season in rather rapid fashion. In fact, the Indians began playing on the second day of the season, in a game also against Warwick, returning to the floor then just two days later for a game against Garden Spot, before then capping a dizzying flurry of initial games off with a date against Eastern York just another two days after that. To be sure, while they too may have possessed an equal 1-2 record in their first three outings as well, that much coveted on-court practice time for roughly a weeks’ time likely couldn’t have come at a much better time for head coach Ryan Shipper and his crew, especially for a group that has high expectations for themselves –and rightfully so – heading into this season.
In that respect, while this Tuesday night affair between Donegal and Manheim Township would not be a make-or-break scenario for either squad necessarily, the sheer curb appeal in being 2-2 as opposed to 1-3 could not be undervalued or undersold. And if we’re keeping with the theme of real estate here, let’s just cut to the chase and say that coming out of Tuesday night at least, Manheim Township might be one of the most charming listings found on the local market currently.
Coming into the season, Manheim Township was expected to take more of an outside-in approach offensively considering their litany of guards coming back in tow and their overall size, or lack thereof perhaps. And right on cue, the Streaks proceeded to turn into the “Bombs Away Blue Streaks” in the opening few minutes against Donegal, not taking their first field goal inside the arc until three minutes already had expired in the opening quarter. Yet when they did go inside the ring, the hosts were nothing if not efficient inside when they took such shots, such as the case here when 6’1 sophomore forward, Ellis Vorhis-Witmer, tallied his first deuce of the evening to put the Streaks in front, 5-3.
But back came Township’s love affair with the long ball.
Not that it was exactly unrequited either though. At least not when Rocky Mack proceeded to bury his second triple of the initial few minutes, with this latest example bumping that Township lead upwards and out to an 8-3 difference.
However, what was good for the goose was also good for the gander early on.
Perhaps Manheim Township’s hot shooting was contagious in a way and Donegal also happened to catch the same kind of fever. Case in point, a Tyler Bernhardt 3—ball that knotted things up at 10-apiece before an Angel Mendez trifecta would soon follow suit inside the final 30 seconds of the opening act which allowed the guests to head into the second frame with the slim 15-14 advantage.
As mentioned though, whenever Manheim Township decided to take the party inside, there was nothing other than success by and large waiting there for them.
In fact, following two consecutive takes to the cup by way of Streaks’ 6’0 senior guard, Ty Gray, not only had Township regained ownership of the scoreboard on the heels of their first two offensive possessions of the quarter, but their shooting inside the arc continued to remain at a 100% clip. That said, it’s still impossible not to flirt with pulling up from bonus distance, such as Gray would do at the five-minute mark of the second quarter, splashing in a three to then make it a 22-17 Township advantage with momentum clearly shifting in the hosts’ favor. Still, Township’s proficiency from close range remained simply stellar even as the game prolonged. Specifically speaking, the Streaks’ first field goal miss of the two-point variety wouldn’t come until the 4:09 mark of the second stanza, on a tough mid-air put-back attempt no less.
But when you leave the door open for a capable team even in the slightest of ways, especially one with a college-bound player in particular, chances are that they’ll make you pay dearly.
Right on cue, while he was being hounded magnificently by an assortment of Township defenders working against him up until that point — Jack Kenneff not the least of which especially — Donegal’s Sawyer Floyd would indeed prove his worth all game long. In this instance, after catching Township asleep just ever so lightly on a mixed-up switch defensively, Floyd proceeded to bury a triple from the top of the key which not only helped the future Bloomsburg Husky finish his evening in posting a game-high 20-point night at the office, but it more importantly trimmed the Streaks’ lead down to just a pair, 24-22, with time wrapping up on an explosive first half display between the two clubs.
Speaking of leading scorers, while Manheim Township opted for a more balanced approach on this night, they too had their share of flamethrowers step to the forefront.
But arguably none more so than their 6’1 shooter, Rocky Mack.
Mack, who would conclude the evening in pouring in 19 points in his own right to steer the Streaks’ collective ship, would ironically enough immediately follow Floyd’s latest triple with one his own on Township’s ensuing offensive possession, all while helping to propel the Streaks into the recess with the aid of the 29-25 lead serving as the wind in their sails.
However, almost right from the first inbounds pass which signified the start of the second half, a much more polished and dominant Manheim Township team would emerge and put together a marvelous performance over the course of the final 16 minutes on Tuesday night.
Outside/in, right? Well, maybe not so much as the Streaks reversed course on that approach right from the outset of the third frame as evidenced by a pair of bunnies inside chipped in quick succession by way of the hyphen tandem, Ellis Vorhis-Witmer and Jaden Reed-Jones respectively, helping to swell the Township lead up to a half dozen and a 33-27 count right from the jump. Later, that same level of ferociousness and competitiveness demonstrated under the cup remained out in full force as the Streaks’ budding freshman talent, Yianni Papadimitrou, earned himself an offensive rebound and stick-back later on, pushing the home side’s lead out to a full dozen, 39-27, with half the third quarter already having been expired.
And while Sawyer Floyd would do his part to help keep his side stay within the fight as evidenced by his isolation play that resulted in a two-point addition to his night’s total that kept the gap at ten, 39-29, a pretty floater in the lane tallied by Township’s Ty Gray right before the third quarter buzzer seemed apropos considering how Township had seemed to live nothing if not comfortably throughout much of the third act. So much so in fact that a quick glance up at the scoreboards hanging high above in all corners of the gym showed the Streaks in clear command by virtue of their 48-31 advantage at the time.
By this point, Donegal needed to find some kind of jolt of sustained energy and momentum that would have them retaliate back and make things far more perilous for the hosts in the final period. Unfortunately, for the contingent who came from Mount Joy, no such rally would occur. In fact, Township would only exacerbate the margin inside the final eight minutes as fate would have it.
Remember that approach coming into the year involving Manheim Township potentially becoming a more perimeter-based team when it came to finding their scoring? Well, Rocky Mack certainly did as he would help to raise the second quarter curtain with what would be his fourth and final triple of the night against the Indians, a 3-ball which allowed the Township cushion to hover near the 20-point mark at 54-35 with everything breaking in the Streaks’ direction. Later, another of the Township starters, Jordan Pettigrew, took his turn at firing one in as the 5’9 senior guard would later make it a 60-41 bulge following his trifecta knocked down. Finally, it was Joe Algeo’s turn to get in on the act as the 5’10 junior guard dialed one up in his own right in the waning stages which then indeed gave the Streaks their largest lead of the entire contest, 63-43, before the final buzzer would blare and the scoreboard would show a decisive 68-51 Manheim Township victory at the hands of Donegal. A statement kind of win if you will for the Blue Streaks that could be found within the wee days of the December calendar.
Afterwards, while admittedly hard to knock such a decisive 17-point victory against a worthy foe, there is still plenty to shore up for the Streaks’ in the long term.
“I thought we were taking more 3’s than we would’ve liked early on,” Manheim Township head coach Matt Johns admitted following his team’s win against Donegal. “I think five of our first shots were 3’s and we weren’t happy with that. I’ve said for a long time, ‘I like 3’s, but I love layups.’ We talked at halftime about how we weren’t seeing the dump off (passes) and we weren’t seeing the mismatches. I thought Ellis (Vorhis-Witmer) had a nice mismatch coming into tonight. Unfortunately, he picked up two early fouls. He scored early on, but then he had those fouls, and I think that impacted our initial plan offensively.”
“Beyond just shooting more 3’s, we want to see more patience. We want to see better decision-making and more exploration,” Johns went on to add. “If we’re getting a 3, we’d love for it to be one off of a kick-out because (the opposing team) collapsed down on the post….We want to go and then slow. If we don’t have numbers and guys are back, we want to run our secondary break and then we do want to slow it down a little bit,” he continued of the offensive philosophy. “If (the other team) gets organized, let’s slow things down and force close-outs. Yeah, everyone says that, but let’s force close-outs. Sometimes we do get a little ‘set happy,’ but we didn’t run a ton of sets tonight in the second half. We ran some early in the third quarter to get going, but once we started getting stops defensively, we just kind of flowed.”
And speaking of a cleaner flow and rhythm, perhaps some of that can again be tied to a much more balanced schedule model out of the gate as directly compared to years past.
“This schedule is very much by design,” Johns remarked. “The last maybe two or three years, we had somewhere in the first one to two weeks where we were playing like seven games in 14 days. Or eight games in 14 days,” he shared. “If you’re not experienced and confident with roles clearly being set, it’s hard to get good with all those games happening because you’re not doing the team work that’s needed on yourself. You’re not doing skill prep or development. You’re doing game prep. You don’t get that much better only doing game prep. You’ll get a little better with games themselves, but that’s about it.”
“I’m really happy with the amount of practices we’ve been able to get in,” said Johns. “Last week, yes, we played three games in four days, but lots of teams are doing that. Right now, our schedule basically sets up like game, three practices, another game. Right now, I just feel like we’re set up so much better to keep getting better and then be fresher in a month or two.”
“If we can start level out our play a little bit, that’ll be key,” the Streaks’ head man, now in his 10th year in charge, said when forward-looking. “Right now, our highs are in the third and fourth quarter combined with muddling around somewhat in the first and second (quarters). Tonight, I felt like that dam was finally going to break in the first or second quarter, but never got that stop that we needed. Or, when we got the stop we needed, we didn’t have the offensive possession that we wanted to ultimately stretch it….If we can bottle up those second halves and then improve our shot selection too,” he explained. “Like, tonight, we probably had about 20 points out of our bigs. We said after our first game, ‘We think we’re going to be good if those guys are each getting four to six, six to eight points every night out with the three of them that we roll out there.’ We know and feel confident that at least two of our guards are going to shoot well every night…But yeah, I can’t say enough good things about Ellis tonight. Jaden (Reed-Jones) was very active with getting his hands on balls, defending and helping. And then that freshman (Yianni Papadimitrou), he has a knack of playing much bigger than his actual size. He’s 6’2, but he’s long. He’s able to get his hands on things, alters shots, and he finishes pretty well. He’s probably shooting like 75-80% from the field right now and he just keeps learning each night.”
And there is no better educator than that of winning when you get right down to it. For Manheim Township, they have aced half of their tests so far to date. However, while a 2-2 overall record at this stage may not jump off the page at anyone, turning on the game tape from this performance against Donegal over the course of 32 minutes certainly will. That, combined with growth that their head coach keeps harping on in terms of practice time, and don’t be all that surprised if performances the likes of which the Blue Streaks put forth on Tuesday night aren’t exactly an outlier as the rest of this season continues to take shape.
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