LIMA — Jalen Reese insisted it wasn’t easy, but Mansfield Senior sure made it look that way Thursday night at Lima Senior High School.
The Tygers blew out to a 21-point halftime lead and survived a few anxious moments in the fourth quarter for a stunning 66-50 win over Toledo Bowsher in the Division I regional semifinals.
Mansfield Senior (19-7) will play Lakewood St Edward (22-2) for a regional title at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Akron’s James A. Rhodes Arena. Third-ranked St. Edward beat Cleveland St. Ignatius 70-59 in Akron on Thursday.
Senior High held eighth-ranked Bowsher (24-3) to its lowest scoring output of the season. The Rebels came in averaging 82.1 points a game and had scored more than 100 points in a game eight times this season.
“I wouldn’t say it was easy. Nothing is ever easy,” said Reese, who grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds as the Tygers dominated the glass. “We just played very well in the first half. In the second half we got a little bit of a scare but we stuck with it and won the game.”
Mansfield Senior opened a 14-5 lead after the first quarter, then took control in the second. The Tygers outscored the Rebels 22-10 for a 36-15 halftime lead.
“In the beginning of the game they smacked us in the mouth and we were a little bit surprised. We’re usually the one who does that to other teams,” Bowsher coach Joe Guerrero, whose Rebels were making their first ever regional appearance. “Our guys were totally shocked. To go in at halftime down 21, that is a position we have not been in this year.
“That is as good of a defensive performance as anyone has had against us all year.”
Bowsher’s Nate Allen, the Northwest District Player of the Year in Division I who has verbally committed to Division I North Carolina Central University, scored 22 points but was 8 for 21 from the field. The 6-foot-4 senior guard was 3 for 12 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Senior High’s Malon Samuel, who was giving up four inches, drew the unenviable task of shadowing Allen.
“It was defense, defense, defense,” said Samuel, who will play college football at Division II Malone next fall. “He is a shooter, but he likes to drive hard to his left and try to out-muscle everybody. I like to play physical, too.”
While Allen reached his scoring average — he came in averaging 22.2 points a game — running mates Dajuan King and Cameron White were held well below theirs. King, who came in averaging 20.5 points a game, managed just eight points on 2 of 15 shooting. White, who was averaging 16 points a night, had just two points on 1-for-7 shooting. As a team, Bowsher was 18 for 67 from the field and 3 for 23 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“We made it an individual, one-on-one game for them,” Senior High coach J.T. Reese said. “This is a team game … but what we did was we told our guys, ‘No help at all except when (Allen) had it and then we would put a foot in the paint.’
“What that did was make it and individual battle and I really honestly thought that, from watching film, I thought we could guard them.”
While the defense was suffocating Bowsher, Mansfield Senior’s offense was firing on all cylinders. Mansfield Senior shot an even 50 percent from the field (25 for 50) and scored 40 of its 66 points in the paint. Naradain James came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points on 9 of 14 shooting. The 6-foot-5 junior swingman grabbed five rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
“I kind of felt like I was due for a big game,” said James, who threw down a pair of thunderous fourth-quarter dunks. “My coaches just told me to be more aggressive on offense. Look to be assertive, get to the basket and finish my layups, so that’s what I did.”
Bowsher trailed 44-24 with 4:13 to play in the third quarter before staging a frantic comeback. The Rebels outscored the Tygers 25-12 and cut Senior High’s lead to 57-49 on an Allen 3-pointer with 1:51 to play in the fourth. The Tygers closed the game on a 9-1 run to win going away.
“When it’s winning time — and what I call winning time is three minutes or less and you’re up seven or more points — the possession of the ball is the most important thing and I thought we lost focus of that at times,” J.T. Reese said. “There were two or three possessions where we turned it over and missed some free throws, but I thought we circled the wagons and figured it out.”
The Tygers would have made things easier on themselves had they not struggled from the free throw line. Senior High was just 13 for 23 from the stripe, including a 10-for-19 performance in the second half. Mansfield Senior also committed 14 of their 19 turnovers in the second half.
“They made a run. This game is full of runs, but you’ve just got to sustain and get the other team off their run as quick as possible,” Jalen Reese said. “I thought we did that for the most part.
“We’ll definitely have to work on free throws and protecting the ball because that will come back to bite you.”
Mario Davison backed James with 16 points, while Reese had eight points to go with his 15 boards. Mansfield Senior’s bench bunch outscored Bowsher’s reserves 31-3 and eight of the nine Tygers who played meaningful minutes scored.
Mansfield Senior will try to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2005 on Saturday.
“We’re excited to be sitting where we are,” Samuel said. “We’re four quarter from playing in the Final Four.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
“Our guys were totally shocked. To go in at halftime down 21, that is a position we have not been in this year. That is as good of a defensive performance as anyone has had against us all year.” – Joe Guerrero
