BLOOMFIELD – More than anything, turnovers cost the Manchester boys basketball team a trip to the state Group 2 final.
The Falcons committed 15 turnovers in the first half and 25 overall Thursday night during a 66-53 loss to Newark Tech in the Group 2 semifinals at Bloomfield High School. The Falcons also had difficulty dealing with Newark Tech senior forward Jordan Zagadou, who scored a game-high 29 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Terriers.
“Turnovers hurt us the whole game,” Manchester coach Rich Sponzilli said. “If that wasn’t the case, it would’ve been a lot closer than 13 points. But Newark Tech really played hard and they were a lot bigger than us. They had tremendous size and we didn’t. We weren’t really worried about their outside shooting. That didn’t really hurt us. The big men underneath hurt us. But we gave it our all.”
