WILLARD – Sophomores just don’t do what Mason Campbell and Jared Jakubick did in Mansfield St. Peter’s 57-52 district title win on Friday night over Sandusky St. Mary’s.
Campbell scored 20 points, including all 10 Spartan points in the third quarter, and Jakubick added 13, all but two in the fourth period, as St. Peter rallied to earn its first berth in the Division IV Sweet 16 since 2004.
“Mason Campbell was a man tonight,” St. Peter coach Joe Jakubick said. “He didn’t play like a sophomore. He got some help from Jared in the fourth quarter, but if (Mason) doesn’t play as well as he did, it wouldn’t have mattered.
“I am extremely proud of all our kids tonight in this environment. The kids never quit and they just kept battling.”
Even more impressive than what Campbell and Jakubick did is how and when they did it.
The Spartans (23-3) trailed much of the night, falling behind by seven (31-24) in the second quarter and again in the third quarter (43-36). In both instances, Campbell finished the periods with a flourish.
He scored five points in 16 seconds late in the second quarter to close the gap to 31-29 at the intermission. Campbell then nailed one of his four triples in the final minute of the third to cut the St. Mary (22-4) lead to 43-39 entering the fourth.
Jakubick took over in the fourth when the Spartans trailed 49-45 with 4:42 left to play. He hit a triple with 3:49 left to cut the deficit to one and then drove and scored with 3:03 left to give St. Peter the lead for the first time since the first quarter.
Jakubick added six points down the stretch, including a perfect four-for-four from the line in the last 30 seconds to seal the win.
CLUTCH SHOOTING
The clutch free throws didn’t come as a surprise to Jakubick, who is shooting 80 percent at the line this season.
“I put myself in that situation every day in practice,” he said. “The first couple of quarters, my shot was off. I finally got some shots to fall in the fourth quarter and we took it from there.”
He also responded to timeout advice from his coach/father.
“I told him during a timeout, ‘Dude, it’s time to step up. You’ve got to make plays. You can’t go down like this,” the elder Jakubick said.
For Campbell, some of his triples were NBA-length 3-pointers. They needed to be since the Panthers were closely guarding the 3-point line.
“My shot was on tonight and I was able to step back a little farther. I got in the groove a little bit and we just kept going,” Campbell said.
The Spartans rely on just two seniors with their underclassmen-heavy roster. But coach Jakubick doesn’t want to hear his team is playing beyond its tender years.
“I never put a timetable on things,” Jakubick said. “Obviously you’ve got two young players that you rely a lot on. Don’t get me wrong, we go deep, we’ve got more than two players, but we rely on them a lot. And you never know how they’re going to get in a big-game situation. They’re talented young men and I’ve told them before,’…You get out there and you’ve got to play and it’s eat or be eaten. What’s it going to be?”
GETTING DEFENSIVE
St. Peter outscored the Panthers 18-9 in the fourth quarter, limiting St. Mary’s to just three points in the final 3:49. Key to that effort was stopping 6-foot-6 senior Trenton Zimmerman, announced this week as the Northwest District Division IV Player of the Year.
Zimmerman finished with 17 points, four below his average. The Spartans hounded the versatile center every time the Panthers got it to him in the post, limiting him to four points in the final quarter.
“We wanted to make it tough on Zimmerman in the second half,” Jakubick said. “When he did get the ball inside, we didn’t want to let him score or pass it to cutters coming to the basket.”
SMCC coach Lyle Falkner said it was a heartbreaking defeat.
“We took some bad shots and they hit some big shots,” he said. “That was kind of the game in a nutshell. It just seemed like (when we got the lead to seven) that we just couldn’t find that key basket to extend it.
“I thought we played fairly well overall. We just missed some key shots,” Falkner said.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Campbell and Jakubick, both of whom averaged 14 points per game this season, were the only Spartans in double figures. Junior point guard Tyson Kent added eight, including six in the first quarter. Senior forward Ryan Payne had seven.
Sophomore Luca Mormina had 12 points for the Panthers, despite missing a great deal of time in foul trouble.
St. Peter’s plays Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Bowling Green State University against McComb (14-10). The Panthers upset New Riegel in a district title game on Friday night, 59-47. The first game Tuesday will be Fayette vs. Van Wert Lincolnview, which tips at 6:15 p.m.
The regional title game, with a trip to the Final Four in Columbus on the line, will be Friday at 7 p.m,
Division IV regional tournament
At Bowling Green State University
Tuesday
Fayette vs. Van Wert Lincolnview, 6:15 p.m.
Mansfield St. Peter vs. McComb, 8 p.m.
Winners play in regional title game, Friday at 8 p.m., at BGSU
St. Peter’s tournament trail
Sectional (at Lexington)
St. Peter’s 82, Monroeville 48
St. Peter’s 85, Lakeside Danbury 34
District (at Willard)
St. Peter’s 72, Wynford 59
St. Peter’s 57, Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic 52
