LEXINGTON — Naradain James is playing at a historic level. It was only fitting he hit a historic shot.
Mansfield Senior’s rangy 6-foot-5 shooting guard, James drained a contested 3-pointer as time expired in overtime to lift the Tygers to a thrilling 54-52 Ohio Cardinal Conference win at Lexington on Friday.
Senior High (5-3, 2-2) has won five consecutive games after losing three straight to open the season. Lexington (5-6, 1-3) dropped its third in a row.
With the Tygers trailing 52-51 and less than five seconds to play, James caught the ball on the left wing and waited for a ball screen. When the pick never materialized, he shook his defender and launched a high-arcing 3-pointer that fell softly through the net as the horn sounded.
“The play was for me to come off a screen and get to the rim,” said James, who came in averaging 20.4 points and 11.3 rebounds a game. “It didn’t come so I just tried to free myself up and get off a decent-looking shot and it felt good.”
Lexington’s Joey Zahn scored the go-ahead bucket on a short jumper with 10 seconds to play. Senior High coach J.T. Reese called timeout to draw up a play for his senior standout.
“That is what we drew up. We didn’t draw it up for him to take a 40-foot fade-away, but it was get the ball to Naradain on the left side of the basket,” Reese said. “We told our guys in the locker room, ‘He made that shot today but Naradain really hit that shot in the summer.’ He was the guys who was calling me up all summer long to come get shots up.
“Anything good that happens to this guy is well deserved and it was so fitting for him to hit it here.”
James transferred from Lexington to Mansfield Senior after his freshman year.
“It was definitely sweeter because last year we came here and they beat us and I thought we definitely should have won that game,” said James, referring to a 60-49 loss to the Minutemen in December of 2013. “They were on my radar and we came here and got it done in a hostile environment. I’m proud of my team.”
Rarified Air: James, who scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds Friday, is having a season for the ages. No Mansfield Senior player has averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds a game since Dapreis Owens in 1987-88. Ricky Minard came the closest, averaging 22.6 points and 8.5 rebounds a game in 1999-2000.
“Naradian James in an unbelievable player,” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said. “I give Naradain all the credit for it. I think it was a very good basketball player making a play to win the game.”
James was 0-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc before hitting the game-winner.
“I figured one of them had to go in,” he said.
Warrior: Had it not been for James, Zahn would have been the hero. The undersized guard scored all 15 of his points in the second half and overtime.
“We rely on him to do a lot for us,” Hamilton said. “Our littlest guy on the floor is right in there battling and getting those offensive boards and putbacks and battling.
“He’s got the heart of a warrior. There’s no question about it.”
Tempo: Lex was able to keep the pace to its liking throughout the first half. The Minutemen led 19-15 at halftime.
“We knew that we couldn’t get into a track meet with these guys,” Hamilton said. “They are capable of scoring 75 or 80 points and that’s not our game. We had to play our game and I thing we did.
“We got to the locker room and they’e got 15 points at halftime. My kids battled the entire 32 minutes and overtime.”
Lexington led 29-22 after a Jonah Yaussy bucket late in the third quarter before the Tygers closed the period with a 7-0 run. A James steal and layup with four seconds remaining pulled Senior High even at 29-29.
“We just came out with a lot of energy and thing went our way,” James said. “We played harder in the second half and learned from first half.”
JV: Dana Shoulders scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds as Lexington rallied for a 37-36 win in the junior varsity game. Tony Gerrell added 10 points for the Minutemen.
Christian Haney topped Senior High with eight points. Link Briggs added seven.
