MANCHESTER – Franklin Agu scored a game-high 20 points to go with 15 rebounds and Myerscough held off a late comeback to beat Manchester 65-63 in Division 2 on Saturday night.
Sanmi Fajana (12 points & 9 rebounds) and Lewis McGlasson (10 points) both reached double-figures scoring off the bench for Myerscough, whose substitutes outscored Magic 28-13. Mike Irvine added 11 on 4-of-9 shooting.
“It’s a big win on the road,” said Myerscough head coach Neal Hopkins. “We withstood a tough moment down the stretch where we could use some leadership — we had opportunities to hit that killer shot but failed to convert on a number of attempts, which would’ve made the last minute and a half easier.
“Thankfully, we’re in a situation where we can take a lot from those last two minutes, learn from it, make adjustments and make sure we’re more prepared for the next game.”
Neither team held an advantage larger than eight points, with Myerscough (3-0) overturning a 34-26 deficit in the second quarter. Agu’s 3-point play sparked an 11-1 run that pushed Sco ahead by one before the lead changed hands three times before halftime.
Myerscough, which had trailed 40-39 at the break, matched its largest lead of the game of six at 65-59 off of McGlasson’s 3-pointer with three minutes left. Sco then withstood missing its final five shots to go with three turnovers.
Manchester scored the last four points of the game, but missed a chance to send the game to overtime and Luke Gordos failed to convert a 3-pointer attempt at the buzzer.
Andre Gayle and Richard Bell each scored 15 points to lead the Magic (1-2) in the loss.
Myerscough shot just 33 percent, but outrebounded Manchester 58-42 and outscored its opponent 13-6 on second chance points. Agu hauled in seven offensive boards while Sco totalled 22 as a team.
“It was an important win for us,” said Agu. “I knew that stepping up on the glass, especially the offensive end would help us achieve that.”
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