By Bill Barrows

More high school basketball is on the docket for this upcoming week.

February brings the boys more into focus now that the girls have finished the regular season and the sectional is history.
 

By The Paper Staff

Emmanuel Christian School’s basketball squad won the Emmanuel Christian Invitational Saturday, Feb. 3.

In the opener, Emmanuel defeated Grace Baptist 58-26, led by senior Davis Coyne, who finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Sophomore Preston Ritzema added 11 points and four rebounds, and senior Ariston Trusty chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
 

By Eric Christiansen
echristiansen@nmpaper.com

PERU -- Twenty-two Wabash County wrestlers advanced to the Peru Regional with Wabash leading the way with three champions and seven other qualifiers.

Manchester advanced five wrestlers qualify for regional, Northfield had four and Southwood advanced three competitors.

Wabash finished third of the 10 teams competing at the Peru Sectional, followed by Manchester in sixth place, Southwood seventh and Northfield eighth.

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

PLYMOUTH -- Aaron Butcher had bounced around from job to job when he landed his first college basketball head coaching role at Ancilla College in 2012, and by his own admission he was still a little wet behind the ears.

Looking back, the Wabash native recalls a lot of hour and 15 minute drives back to his hometown after losses, wondering if he had made the right decision in his coaching path. Nobody had ever won at a high level at Ancilla, and in the back of his mind, Butcher wondered if he had what it took to get the program moving in the right direction.

“Looking back, I was 27 when I got the job, which is really young for a college head coach,” Butcher said. “There was probably still some stuff I needed to learn. Early on it was a lot of struggles and trying to build the program and get it going in the direction we wanted it to go.”

That was six years ago, and Butcher has proven up to the task, with the Chargers increasing their wins total every season he’s been there.
 

By Bill Barrows

The IHSAA Sectional draw for girls high school basketball was drawn on Sunday afternoon.

All four Wabash County schools are involved. Northfield and Southwood will play in single A. Wabash and Manchester will play in double A.
 

By Bill Barrows

With the IHSAA Girls Sectional a week away, we hit the home stretch for the season and on the boy’s side, well, there’s still about a third of the season left.
 

By Eric Christiansen
echristiansen@nmpaper.com

Manchester’s Halle Briner broke two Three Rivers Conference records to lead Manchester to a third place finish at the Three Rivers Conference championship meet.

Briner won the 500 free with a record time of 5:21.61 and the 100 breaststroke in record time of 1:08.58.
 

By The Paper staff

Wabash finished fourth at the Three Rivers Conference wrestling meet, followed by Manchester in fifth place, Southwood in sixth and Northfield in seventh.