Mangas Continues To Set The Standard
By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews
OAKLAND CITY – In the long and illustrious history of the Indiana Wesleyan basketball program, it had never happened. In the long and illustrious history of Kyle Mangas’ basketball career, he hadn’t done this either.
Until Friday night.
Mangas dropped a 50-spot on Oakland City, 51 points to be exact, as Indiana Wesleyan drubbed the City 114-70 Friday night.
Mangas was the first Wildcat to ever score 50 points in a game, the previous record being 44 when Bruce Smith hit the number in 1991.
As good as the three-time Crossroads League Player of the Year, the two-time NAIA National Player of the Year and Bevo Francis Award winner has been, Mangas had only scored 40 one time at IWU. Even in his prolific career at Warsaw Community High School, Mangas had never topped 50, his best as a Tiger being 47 points.
Against Oakland City, Mangas was 21-36 from the floor, 7-16 from three-point range, and in the shooting barrage, was just 2-3 from the free throw line. He added six rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block in the historic night.
“We are just enjoying every chance we get to play ball with each other,” Mangas said. “My teammates kept telling me to shoot it, so I kept firing it. The credit goes to them for hitting me with some great passes.”
Dylan Anderson had 20 points and seven assists, Michael Thompson III added 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Fairfield graduate Luke Stephens had five points, five assists and four boards.
The Wildcats, which have eclipsed 100 points in all but one game this season (and had 97 in that seventh game), are 7-0 overall.