MANSFIELD — The chase for the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship got a lot more interesting Friday night.
Cole Rapp’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with less than a minute to play gave Mount Vernon its only lead of the fourth quarter and the Yellow Jackets held off Mansfield Senior 50-48 at Pete Henry Gym.
Mount Vernon’s win, coupled with Lexington’s victory over Madison, created a logjam atop the OCC standings. The Jackets, Tygers and Minutemen each have two OCC losses.
Senior High (9-5, 7-2) split the season series with the Jackets (10-5, 6-2) and swept the Minutemen (11-4, 5-2). Mount Vernon hosts Lex on Tuesday and plays at Lexington on Feb. 16.
“I told our guys that every conference game for the remainder of the season is a championship game,” Mansfield Senior coach Marquis Sykes said. “We have to treat it as such and we have to prepare as such.
“I wasn’t really happy with our preparation this week. I wasn’t really happy with our focus and I let our guys know that.”
Mansfield Senior led by as many as nine points in the second quarter and held a 32-25 halftime advantage. But Mount Vernon began chipping away in the third quarter. A Collin Barteau layup with 3:53 remaining in the third capped a 10-2 run and gave the Jackets a 35-34 edge. The Tygers responded with a 7-2 spurt to close the quarter and led 41-37 going to the fourth.
“We took their initial punch and we just kept playing,” Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon said. “We fought some adversity early when we couldn’t get a lot of defensive stops, but we got the game to where we gave ourselves a chance to win.”
Mansfield Senior led 46-43 after a Breyon Mills offensive rebound and putback with 5:22 remaining, but the Jackets closed the game on a 7-2 spree. Kaden Daniels misfired on a pair of free throws with 2:52 to play, but grabbed his own miss after the second attempt and found Jeffrey Rucker, who scored and was fouled with 2:47 to go. Rucker completed the three-point play to tie the score at 46-46.
It remained that way until Mills scored on another putback with 1:38 remaining. Rapp, who was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting, knocked down a trey with 58 seconds left to give the Jackets a 49-48 margin. Daniels split a pair of freebies with 23 seconds to play for a 50-48 advantage.
“Cole just finds a way to get it done,” Coon said. “He’ll be the first to tell you he’s not the biggest or quickest or most athletic, but he knows what we’re trying to do and he’s always in the right spot.”
The Tygers had the ball out of bounds under the Mount Vernon basket with three seconds showing, but Norian Lindsay’s runner as time expired bounced off the back of the rim.
“We didn’t really get the look we wanted, but we got a look,” Sykes said. “I’ve seen much crazier shots go in, but we were on the fly.
“They took away our first option and we went to our second option.”
Tyler Bills led Mount Vernon with 15 points. Daniels had 13, while Barteau added 12.
B.J. Patrick led Senior High with 11. Quan Hilory had nine, all in the first quarter, while Mills had eight.
“We’ve had two really good games,” Coon said. “Both of them were decided by one possession.
“We talk about taking care of our opportunities and if we’re in the league race with a game or two to play, we’ll be fortunate to be there.”
