Manchester-Essex has lived up to its lofty preseason expectations.

Behind star guard Cade Furse and center Eddie Chareas, the Hornets are 10-0 and enter the second half of the season ranked No. 7 in Div. 4 in the latest MIAA Power Rankings.

The Hornets, who went 18-8 a season ago, currently sit atop the Cape Ann League Baker by a two-game margin.

“As long as we did what we were capable of I thought we would be where we are currently,” Manchester Essex head coach Timothy St. Laurent said. “We have a guard who averaged 25 a game and a big man that is all muscle. When you have those two cornerstones and a good group around them, you should compete.”

Manchester-Essex has dominated. They handed Peabody its only loss of the season by 27 points and have beaten all but one opponent, Hamilton-Wenham, by double figures. Leading the charge is Furse, who has not slowed down this winter. Alongside him is Chareas, who at six-foot-six, 220 pounds, has averaged a double-double, posting 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Surrounding the two of them are a slew of complementary pieces. Jake Zschau is tallying eight points and six rebounds per game while Milo Zeltzer leads the team in assists. St. Laurent’s offensive game plan often depends on how teams play their post presence.

“We are holding teams to low margins and we’ve held good teams to low point totals,” St. Laurent said. “We need to make sure we play through Eddie (Chareas). We see how teams adjust to him. We want to run the ball through that if we can.”

Manchester-Essex is one of a host of Div. 4 state title contenders along with defending champion Wareham, Burke, Monument Mountain, and undefeated Bourne. St. Laurent already has his team’s eyes on a showdown with possible state tournament opponents.

“Our team was out watching Burke and Wareham last Sunday to see how those teams play,” St. Laurent said. “We’re going to play Burke later this year. We do not look past anyone, but we want to ensure we know what level we have to play come February.”

The Hornets take a trip to Triton on Tuesday before taking on Hamilton-Wenham for the second time this season on Friday.

In the lane

There are a slew of high-evel girls basketball games on the docket for the upcoming week.

Southeastern Conference foes Dartmouth (11-0) and Bridgewater-Raynham (7-2) will play Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in a makeup from Tuesday. The first matchup of two between the sides will go a long way towards determining the league champion. Thursday evening features a pair of Merrimack Valley Conference heavyweights as Billerica visits Central Catholic.

On Friday, Catholic Central League leaders Bishop Feehan (8-2) and St. Mary’s (11-3) will face off.

Nearly halfway through the season, 10 undefeated teams remain on the boys side. In Div. 1, Worcester North and Waltham are the lone unbeatens with Norwell joining them in Div. 3. Div. 4 has the most teams with perfect records as Bourne, Monument Mountain, Manchester Essex, New Heights, and Maimonides are all without a blunder. Duggan Academy and Avon are both 10-0 in Div. 5.