MANSFIELD — Mansfield Senior’s dynamic duo was at its best when it mattered most.
Maurice Ware and D’Angelo Chapman combined for 20 of Senior High’s 28 second-half points as the Tygers rallied for a 46-39 win over Lexington in Ohio Cardinal Conference action Friday at Pete Henry Gym.
Ware scored a game-high 15 points, nine of which came after intermission. Chapman added 11 of his 13 after the break as Mansfield Senior (8-6, 5-3) overcame a 13-point second half deficit.
Lexington (4-9, 0-8) led 31-18 after a Tyler Jackson layup with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter when Ware and Chapman went to work. Chapman got things started with an offensive rebound and putback with 3:24 to play, sparking a 9-1 run to close out the the quarter. Ware scored the final five points of the period on a conventional three-point play and a pair of free throws to cut Lexington’s lead to 32-27 going to the fourth.
“We never doubted ourselves,” said Ware, who added five rebounds and a pair of steals to go with his 15 points. “When we came out after halftime, we brought more energy. I feel like we need to do that at the beginning of the game instead of waiting.
“Defensively, we’ve all got to play harder because our defense creates our offense.”
The Tygers pulled even at 32-32 on a Nathaniel Haney 3-pointer with 6:39 remaining in the fourth and took the lead for good when Haney drained his second trey of the period with 5:19 to play for a 37-34 Senior High advantage.
A pair of Jackson free throws made it 39-38 in favor of the Tygers with 3:18 to go, but Mansfield Senior closed on a 7-1 run to win going away. Chapman sparked Senior High’s final surge with a rare 3-pointer with 2:16 remaining, giving the Tygers a 42-39 advantage. Ware sealed it with a pair of free throws with 34.6 seconds left and an offensive rebound and putback with 9.9 seconds remaining.
“There’s a certain way that we have to play. We have to have a chip on our shoulder … and we didn’t for the first half of the game,” Mansfield Senior coach Marquis Sykes said. “Once we got down big, we picked it up. We fought through and made enough plays to win the game.”
While Ware and Chapman handled the heavy lifting, they had plenty of help from starting guards Haney and Shad Creamer, who scored eight points apiece. Creamer added five assists and a pair of steals.
Jack Depperschmidt led Lexington with 12 points. Tyler Jackson and Hudson Moore each had eight.
The inexperienced Minutemen have lost three straight games, all by seven points or less. Lex fell to Madison in overtime earlier this week after owning a double-digit lead in the second half.
“I’m done making excuses. We just don’t execute,” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said. “There are things that we have to do to win ball games that we’re just not doing right now.
“You start the season with no experience. You’ve got to work on some things but right now that’s not what it is. There’s a lot of things that we just have to do better.”
