Winslow Township's Manny Lowe emerging in playoffs
Mike Cubbage approached the tall kid on the bus to ask if he wanted to try basketball. "I always wanted to play football," Manny Lowe said. "But when Mike asked me, I thought I would try basketball."
Mike Cubbage approached the tall kid on the bus to ask if he wanted to try basketball.
"I always wanted to play football," Manny Lowe said. "But when Mike asked me, I thought I would try basketball."
Lowe went to basketball practice the next day. He wore jeans.
"I didn't know any better," Lowe said with a laugh, looking back at the start of a basketball journey that suddenly has exploded with possibilities.
Lowe played perhaps the best game of his career Friday in Winslow Township's 62-59 victory over Timber Creek in the semifinals of the South Jersey Group 3 tournament.
The 6-foot-9 Lowe scored a season-high 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and rallied Winslow Township from a deep early deficit with his energetic play.
Winslow Township (14-14), the No. 5 seed, will play at second-seeded Highland (22-7) in the South Jersey Group 3 title game Tuesday at 5 p.m.
"He was out of his mind," Timber Creek coach Rich Bolds said of Lowe's play.
If Lowe has come a long way from his first practice in fifth grade, he has made quite a journey in the last week, too.
He has emerged as an impact player in the state tournament after spending more time on the bench than on the court during the regular season.
"I was," Lowe said when asked if he was frustrated by a lack of playing time in the regular season. "But my teammates had my back. They kept encouraging me."
Cubbage, the Eagles' star point guard, said Lowe struggled to "find his role" on a team deep with veteran big men such as seniors Devon Robinson, Elijah Campbell and Nasir Fields.
"We had a meeting before the playoffs and told Manny we were going to need him," Cubbage said.
Winslow Township coach Norm Ingram said Lowe was "up and down," during the regular season but continued to focus on improvement.
"This is a kid who didn't have a ride to practice the other day, on a Sunday, and he walked to practice," Ingram said. "That's amazing to me. But that's how hard he's worked."
In Friday's sectional semifinals, Lowe came off the bench to score all 17 of his points in the first three quarters.
His work in the paint helped the visitors dominate the backboards, using their size and strength advantages to battle back from an early 23-7 deficit.
"It was all hustle," said Lowe, who is leaning toward attending Rowan College of Gloucester County. "Just playing hard, hustling, trying to help my team."
With his height, athletic ability and surprisingly good shooting touch - he regularly makes three-pointers in warm-ups - Lowe is the Eagles' X factor moving forward in the playoffs.
He has come a long way from a player who missed all of his sophomore year with a knee injury.
He has come even further from a youngster who showed up for his first practice in jeans.
@PhilAnastasia