FINDLAY, Ohio — Mansfield Senior was beaten at its own game in the second half Thursday at Liberty-Benton High School.
The Tygers, whose hallmark has long been transition offense, gave up one runout layup after another in a 61-58 loss to Ashland in the Division I district semifinals.
The Arrows (22-1) beat the Tygers (15-9) for the third time this season and will play Lima Senior for a district title at 2 p.m. Saturday at Liberty-Benton. Lima beat Findlay 45-32 in Thursday’s nightcap.
“In the second half, we didn’t get back defensively, flat out,” Senior High coach J.T. Reese said. “There were four possessions where they just laid the ball in and didn’t have to run any offense.
“Our first defensive key is sprint back and find a man and it came (back) to bite us.”
The Tygers led 41-40 after three and opened a 44-40 advantage on a traditional three-point play by Naradain James with 6:39 remaining, but Ashland responded with 10-4 run and took a 50-48 lead on a Brett Vipperman 3-pointer with 2:58 to play. The Arrows wouldn’t trail again.
“We were looking for something on Isaac (White) on the other side,” Vipperman said. “They were in their zone and they stepped up to Isaac and Drew Dickinson made a great screen and I stepped up with confidence and knocked it down.”
Ashland, which struggled from the free throw line during the first half, made 11 of 14 freebies down the stretch.
Vipperman led Ashland with 24 points. White had 16 points, while Grant Denbow added 11.
Naradain James topped the Tygers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Mario Young had 15 points before fouling out with less than two minutes to play.
Strong Start: The Tygers led 22-14 after the first quarter and 26-14 early in the second quarter before Ashland coach Tim Fralick called a timeout to regroup. Ashland outscored Senior High 14-4 the rest of the half and trailed 30-28 at the break.
“We told them to stay the course,” Fralick said. “We felt like, even though they were scoring at a pretty high rate, we felt some of the shots they were making … they wouldn’t be able to continue to make those.”
Missed Opportunities: In addition to their defensive struggles in the second half, the Tygers made just 10 of 33 shots after the break.
“We didn’t execute down the stretch,” Reese said.
