[Stardust]

At 6 feet 2, Quintez Thompson doesn’t often find himself among the tallest players on the basketball court.

But with a rare size advantage Friday, Thompson had a big night with 28 points to lead host Manual High School to a 65-53 victory over Central in the 25th District Tournament championship game.

“My teammates put me in good positions down low,” he said. “With Central not having a lot of height, I tried to take advantage of it. … Coach talked to me about looking for mismatches down low.”

Thompson hit 11 of 15 shots and 5 of 6 free throws as Manual, No. 10 in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings, improved to 19-10 entering next week’s Seventh Region Tournament at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall. Trey Wells added 13 points for the Crimsons.

As a district champion, Manual will face one of three district runners-up (Male, Seneca or Ballard) in Tuesday’s first round. The regional draw is today.

“I think it’s real important,” Manual coach Jimmy Just said of winning the district. “You’re hoping you get a good draw, and who knows what will happen from there? You have to be good, but you also have to be a little lucky.”

Stuart Jackson had 13 points and Jamie Johnson 12 to lead the Yellowjackets (13-14), who shot just 36.7 percent overall (22 of 60) and 2 of 24 from 3-point range.

“I don’t really worry about our shooting and being 2 for 24,” said coach Doug Bibby, whose team will face St. Xavier, Trinity or Eastern in the first round of the regional. “But the defense in transition and half-court, we didn’t do a good job.”

Manual trailed just once (2-0) and led by as many as 12 points (22-10) before settling for a 30-25 halftime edge. Thompson scored 16 points in the half, including a steal and dunk that made it 28-23 at the 1:06 mark after Central had pulled within three.

Bibby was impressed with Thompson after watching film of him during Manual’s 67-59 victory over Central two weeks ago.

“He’s just a freak athlete,” Bibby said. “He’s always giving effort and always in the right spot on the floor.”

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