MANSFIELD — The night belonged to B.J. Patrick and Mansfield Senior’s sticky-fingered defense.
Patrick scored his 1,000th career point and the Tygers turned 23 Lexington turnovers into 31 points in a 60-52 Ohio Cardinal Conference win over the Minutemen at Pete Henry Gym.
A senior guard, Patrick became just the eighth player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau when he knocked down a baseline jumper early in the third quarter. Play was halted and Patrick was embraced by head coach Marquis Sykes, who scored 1,151 career points for the Tygers before graduating in 1999.
“I’m extremely proud of him, because that’s an exclusive club,” Sykes said. “To be able to get 1,000 points at Mansfield Senior High School, his name will forever be in the books.
“It doesn’t happen very often. Ricky Mindard didn’t hit a thousand and Antonio Graves didn’t hit a thousand. Those are professionals who didn’t get to a thousand.”
Patrick played at Mansfield Christian as a freshman, scoring 174 points. He transferred to Mansfield Senior and averaged 11 points a game as a sophomore and 18.8 points a night as a junior. He entered play Tuesday with 993 career points.
The milestone bucket came on the first play of the third quarter. Patrick caught a pass on the right wing, faked a 3-pointer and took one dribble toward the baseline before launching a mid-range jumper over the outstretched arm of Lexington’s Cade Stover with 7:51 remaining.
“I practice that shot all the time,” Patrick said. “It means so much to me. I’ve worked so hard for it. It comes from hard work and dedication.”
Patrick’s historic bucket ignited a 15-6 run as the Tygers (8-3, 6-1) turned a 28-27 halftime lead into a 43-33 advantage with three minutes remaining in the period. The Minutemen (9-4, 4-2) turned the ball over eight times in the third.
“The effort is there, but we’re trying to make plays we shouldn’t,” said Lexington coach Scott Hamilton, whose Minutemen turned the ball over 22 times in Saturday’s win over Upper Sandusky. “I don’t want to take anything away from Mansfield. Coach Sykes has got them defending really well.
“It’s very difficult to try to practice for that. Trying to simulate that in practice is really difficult.”
Lex trailed 45-38 going to the fourth, but cut Senior High’s lead to 51-49 on a Mason Kearns 3-pointer with 2:55 remaining. An offensive rebound and putback by Breyon Mills with 2:27 to play gave the Tygers a 53-49 advantage. Mansfield Senior connected on seven of eight free throws in the final 1:17 to ice it.
Quan Hilory led four Tygers in double figures with 12 points. Jornell Manns had 11, while Patrick and Christian Haney added 10 points apiece. Mills had nine.
Ben Vore led Lex with 17 points. Cade Stover had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
“(Stover) is big and strong,” said Mills, who guarded Stover most of the evening. “We had to front the post and try to deny him passes.”
The Tygers return to action at 3 p.m. Thursday, playing Whitehall Yearling at Quicken Loans Arena.
“We’ve been looking forward to that for a while,” Mills said. “We’ve been waiting on that game all year.”
