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Manchester’s Chase Fierstos launches an 18-foot jump shot in the closing seconds of the Wabash County Tourney’s boy’s’ championship game on Wednesday, Jan. 30. The basket was good and gave Manchester a 52-50 win over Northfield. Photo by Joseph Slacian 

 

By Eric Christiansen

 

The Shot.

 

That was the talk of Wabash County last Wednesday night when Manchester’s Chase Fierstos crushed the hopes of the Northfield Norse with a buzzer beating 18-foot jump shot to lift the Squires to the Wabash County Tournament title 52-50 over Northfield.

 

With under a minute left, the Squires and Norse were tied 50-50 when Northfield’s Austin Trump tried to give Northfield the lead with a 3-pointer that was off the mark. Teammate Jake Schuler grabbed the rebound, but his put-back was off the mark. 

 

Manchester’s Mason Hamby rebounded the miss with 53 seconds left, and the Squires decided not to take a time-out, but rather work for the last shot.

 

“We have our stuff we work on in practice, situation stuff,” Manchester coach Eric Thompson said. “We knew what we wanted to do, we had the ball in the right man’s hands, and we had everybody else around who could do something if needed. 

 

“I thought we were playing pretty good basketball, and if we miss the shot, we go to overtime and try to play the best four minutes we can,” Thompson added. “The right man at the right time had the ball and hit the shot for us.”

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Manchester’s Rae Bedke attempts to dribble around Wabash’s Bailey Yoakum during the girls’ championship game of the Wabsah County Tourney. Photo by Joseph Slacian

 

By Eric Christiansen

 

The Wabash Lady Apaches won their second straight Wabash County Tournament and their eighth in 10 years, but it wasn’t easy.

 

The Apaches started off slow, picked things up in the middle of the game, and controlled the final five minutes of the game to close out a 36-32 win over Manchester to win the title.

 

“The game came down to the end, and I think what helped us is that our kids have been there before,” Wabash coach Matt Stone said. “We have six kids who are back for us who played at the semi-state last year. I told them at halftime ‘we’ve been through bigger wars than this. You know at the end of that game, we can do this’,” he said. “I do think that means something. When you’ve been through something before, that matters, and these kids were pretty gutsy.”

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By The paper staff

 

Northfield’s girls and Southwood’s boys won the consolation matchups of the Wabash County Tourney on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

 

Northfield defeated Southwood, 52-40, while Southwood defeated Wabash, 67-53.

 

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By The Paper staff

 

A 24-5 first half run helped the Manchester Squires turn a tight first quarter into a rout as they topped the Wabash Apaches 67-29 in the first round of the Wabash County Tournament.

 

The Squires led 8-7 midway through the first quarter, but Chase Fierstos hit two straight jumpers, including one 3-pointer to start a 14-3 run to close out the first quarter with a 22-10 lead.

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By Bill Barrows

 

The Wabash County Holiday Basketball Tourney takes place this week at Northfield on Tuesday and Wednesday. The current format was the brainchild of Southwood Athletic Director Tom Finicle. Instead of having the boy’s varsity teams play during holidays and the JV teams as well as the girls tourney basically on a weekend in January, the Wabash County athletic directors worked to create an event that highlights all of the basketball athletes in the same venue for all to see. It has become a competitive celebration of basketball that showcases local talent and Wabash County tradition.

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Northfield’s Cody Holmes rejects a Wabash Apache shot on Friday night, Dec. 18. Photo by Joseph Slacian

 

By The Paper staff

 

The fourth quarters made all the difference on Friday and Saturday nights as Northfield and Wabash boys’ and girls’ basketball teams squared off.

 

Northfield’s boys outscored Wabash, 20-11, in the fourth quarter to post a 65-55 win over the host Apaches.

 

On Saturday, Wabash’s girls outscored Northfield, 24-14 in the final quarter to win 53-46.

 

The boys’ game was actually closer than the 10-point difference. 

 

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By The Paper staff

 

Payton Thompson scored 25 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Northfield girls’ basketball team fell to Tipton, 63-56, on Dec. 15.

 

The Lady Norse jumped out to a 21-13 lead after one quarter. But Tipton outscored Northfield 16-9 in the third quarter to take the lead.

 

Ariel Dale contributed 12 points in the loss.

 

The junior varsity also lost to Tipton, 43-32.

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CJ Holbrook (left) and his fishing teammate, Caleb Garvin, show off some of the fish they caught in a recent tourney. Photo provided

 

By The Paper staff

 

CJ Holbrook, a 21-year-old Wabash native and junior at Mississippi State University is working hard to fulfill his dream and passion of being a professional Angler along with pursuing his bachelor degree in agribusiness from the university.

 

He recently earned his associates degree from Ittawamba Community College The local college in Northeast Mississippi in May 2105. Prior to that he graduated from Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School in North Manchester.

 

Despite the setbacks in his life, beginning with his battle with Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2008 when he was 13, and including other long-term effects from the radiation and chemotherapy treatments he received Holbrook has pushed forward putting this behind him  and using his talents as an angler and a leader in the  Smithville, Miss., community where he resides.

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