MANSFIELD — It was a tale of two halves for two teams headed in opposite directions.
Trailing by as many as 19 points in the first half, Shelby rallied for an improbable, 64-61 win over Mansfield Senior in a non-conference boys basketball game on Tuesday night at Pete Henry Gym.
The win was fourth in a row and sixth in the past seven games for the Whippets (13-3), who are are tied atop the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference standings with River Valley. Senior High (4-11) has lost six in a row, the program’s longest skid since dropping eighth straight early in the 2016-17 season, and is alone in the basement of the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
“The MOAC is a smaller league than the OCC. When we play OCC teams we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” said Shelby sophomore Alex Bruskotter, who scored a game-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds. “We always come out a little more fired up. These games are really important to us.”
For Senior High, this loss was a microcosm of its season. The Tygers played arguably their best half of basketball, opening a 45-28 halftime advantage, only to come unhinged after the break. Mansfield Senior went without a field goal in the third quarter and managed just 16 points after intermission.
“We’re just having a hard time putting four quarters together,” Senior High coach Marquis Sykes said. “It’s been that way for us the entire season.”
Mansfield Senior could do no wrong in the first half. The Tygers connected on 18-of-29 shots, including five 3-pointers, and scored 10 points off eight Shelby turnovers while committing just two turnovers themselves.
It was a different story in the second half, however, as Senior High was just 5-of-23 from the floor and committed 10 turnovers. Shelby scored 10 points off those turnovers.
“It was just our guys playing together,” Shelby coach Greg Gallaway said of the second-half turnaround. “Defensively, as a unit we’re really tough to beat when we play together. Our guys bought into that.
“Offensively, we didn’t execute that great in the second half but it was a big difference in us getting stops.”
The Whippets also began attacking the rim in the second half. Shelby was 14-for-18 from the free-throw line in the third and fourth quarters and 22-for-26 for the game. Senior High made just 10-of-19 free throws.
The Whippets trailed 50-43 going to the fourth quarter and 52-43 with less than seven minutes remaining, but outscored the Tygers 21-9 the rest of the way. Shelby took its first lead of the second half at 59-57 on a Bruskotter steal and layup with 1:20 remaining. A Myles Bradley layup pulled the Tygers even at 59-59 with 52 seconds remaining, but Shelby connected on 5-of-6 free throws in the final 45 seconds to ice it.
Andre Hill backed Bruskotter with 11 points. Jeremy Holloway added 10 points and nine rebounds, while Issaiah Ramsey had seven points and nine boards.
Shelby outrebounded Mansfield Senior 35-20. The Whippets scored 12 second-chance points, while Senior High managed just three.
“It starts with guys like Jeremy Holloway. He does an incredible job and is a great leader for us,” Gallaway said. “He boxes out and high-points the basketball. Those are the things you don’t see in the stat line, but he has been an anchor for us, defensively.”
Maurice Ware led Mansfield Senior with 23 points and eight rebounds. Bradley had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and five rebounds, while Malachi Johnson and Nathan Haney had seven points apiece.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Sykes said. “We played the first half exactly how we drew it up in the scouting report and the second half was the complete opposite.”
