D-V District Boys Basketball: Black River looks toward promising future after tough loss to Manchester

NEW FRANKLIN — The streak continues, but a solid foundation has been built. Black River's season came to an end Wednesday with a 73-42 Division V district semifinal loss to No. 4-seeded Manchester, but with just two seniors on a 10-man roster, the future looks bright for the 16th-seeded Pirates. "I'm definitely going to miss it," said lone senior starter Zane Bungard, who led Black River with 12 points. "There's no feeling like this, but everything has to end at some point. "It's been an amazing season. I've got to hand it to my teammates and coaches. They're always pushing. You've got to give it to (first-year coach Kyle) Dack. He really turned our program around." In finishing 14-10, the Pirates tied the 1997-98 squad (14-7) and 1961-62 team (14-5) for the third-most wins in program history. Only the school's first team in 1958-59 (21-2) and the 1964-65 squad (15-6) won more games. Though Black River still has not appeared in a district final in its 68 seasons, Dack, a 2011 Manchester graduate, certainly has the program headed in the right direction. Nine-deep Manchester (20-5), which played positionless basketball at a fast pace with all its players 6-foot-1 to 6-3, showed the Pirates what it will take to get there, scoring the first nine points of the game en route to quarter leads of 19-7, 43-19 and 60-29. The Panthers were unable to get the 35-point lead needed to institute a running clock. "We knew what we were getting into," Dack said. "We've seen them play several times. We tried to prepare for it, but it's hard to simulate that in practice." The coach, however, had no complaints with the effort of his players throughout the season, including Wednesday. "These kids came to work every day," Dack said. "That's how results happen. We're excited for next year because we have a foundation to build on. We've just got to keep everybody working." Black River sophomore guard Wade Mangan came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers en route to 11 points, while freshman reserve Dom Bell had three points, five rebounds and a game-high six assists. The Pirates, who started two sophomores and two juniors along with Bungard, just couldn't put the ball in the basket, missing their first six shots and finishing 17-for-56 from the field (.304) and 3-for-8 at the line (.375). The team's top scorers for the season, sophomore Parker Broadsword and junior Zane Kristophel, had three points apiece while going a combined 2-for-21 from the floor. "It's just unfortunate," Bungard said. "A lot of shots we were shooting didn't fall. That's how it goes sometime." The Panthers, who used a 1-2-2 full-court press and an aggressive man-to-man defense in the half court, had a lot to do with that. Manchester also had great offensive balance, with six players scoring from eight to 15 points, led by center Tyler Pappas with 15 and seven rebounds and point guard Josiah Morgan with 13 and five assists. "They're a good team," Mangan said. "We just couldn't catch up after they started fast." Black River, which was outrebounded 39-29 and committed 18 turnovers to Manchester's 14, six of which came in a bench-clearing fourth quarter, also got eight points and six boards from sophomore starter Josh Stuart, so now it's just a matter of adding to the foundation it built in 2025-26. "I'm really proud of what we did this year," Mangan said. "The next couple years we're going to be a team to watch out for. We made tremendous growth." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Manchester 73, Black River 42 BLACK RIVER (42): Parker Broadsword 1-1-3, Zane Kristophel 1-1-3, Zane Bungard 6-0-12, Josh Stuart 3-0-8, Hunter Varney 0-0-0, Wade Mangan 4-0-11, Dom Bell 1-1-3, Austin Pamer 1-0-2, Carson Steidl 0-0-0, Carson Shlapack 0-0-0. Totals 17-3-42. MANCHESTER (73): Hayden Higgins 2-3-8, Malachi Cintron 4-2-10, Tyler Pappas 5-3-15, Bodhi Frank 4-0-8, Josiah Morgan 4-4-13, Brady Voros 1-1-3, Trent Zuchowski 1-0-2, Tyler Schindewolf 3-2-9, Bryce Mauger 0-0-0, Levi Donaldson 0-0-0, Maverick Hull 0-2-2, Cody Lindeman 0-0-0, Noah Lance 1-0-2, Justin Rogans 0-1-1. Totals 25-18-73. Black River&emsp;7&emsp;12&emsp;10&emsp;13&emsp;—&emsp;42 Manchester&emsp;19&emsp;24&emsp;17&emsp;13&emsp;—&emsp;73Three-point goals: Mangan 3, Stuart 2, Pappas 2, Morgan, Higgins, Schindewolf. Rebounds: Black River 29 (Broadsword 7), Manchester 39 (Pappas 7). Assists: Black River 12 (Bell 6), Manchester 17 (Morgan 5).