MANSFIELD — Tyrell Ajian picked up his second Division I football scholarship in three days Friday morning and celebrated Friday night at Pete Henry Gym.
Madison’s super sophomore scored a game-high 25 points as the Rams dumped crosstown rival Mansfield Senior 52-43 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference opener for both teams.
The 6-foot Ajian scored 10 first-quarter points as the Rams (3-1, 1-0) opened a 12-6 lead on the Tygers, who were playing their first game of the season.
“That got us going a little,” said Ajian, who picked up an offer from Miami of Ohio on Friday after Toledo threw its hat in the ring Wednesday. “We weren’t really getting anything offensively.”
The Tygers scored 13 unanswered points during a five-and-a-half minute stretch bridging the first and second quarters to take a 15-12 lead. Jenario Minard led the charge, scoring five of his 10 points during the span.
The Rams closed the period on a 12-6 run to take a 24-21 lead to halftime.
The Tygers played large stretches of the first half without seniors Asante’ Wilder and Naradain James, who both picked up two first-half fouls.
“What it does is it puts our kids in situations they have never been in, especially when they don’t have varsity experience,” Senior High coach J.T. Reese said. “It showed tonight. Madison was the better team.”
Senior High trailed 33-29 heading to the fourth quarter but Ajian and the Rams kept the Tygers at arm’s length. Four straight Ajian points gave Madison a 42-35 lead with 3:49 remaining. Mansfield Senior didn’t draw within five points the rest of the evening.
“Tyrell had a great game and we got some fantastic minutes out of our bench tonight,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said. “I couldn’t ask any more out of my basketball team.”
Marathon Rams: While Mansfield Senior was playing its first game of the season, Madison was playing its fourth in eight days.
Was fatigue a concern?
“You might worry about it every other game, but you don’t about it against Mansfield Senior,” Mergel said. “If you don’t come prepared to play in this gymnasium you’re going to get run out of it and we have a couple of times.
“I didn’t worry about my kids. What a tough group they are.”
Green Tygers: Aside from James and Wilder, Senior High is an inexperienced team. The Tygers started first-year varsity players Marion Young and Raheem Clark and freshman Jornell Manns. Reserves Minard, Chioke Bradley Jr. and Antonio Weatherspoon saw their first significant varsity playing time as well.
“I know they lost a lot of guys from last year, but they are a team that reloads,” Mergel said.
Young, who played all 32 minutes, Clark and Minard each had 10 points to lead the Tygers.
Even Keeled: The Rams didn’t win their third game last season until Dec. 30. By that time, Madison was 3-5. The Rams lost to Senior High three times last year.
“It’s such a long season and you’re going to go through some ups and downs,” Mergel said. “But any time you get a win against Mansfield Senior, you don’t discard that.
“If our kids didn’t believe, I would have to say they are going to start to believe now that we can be a pretty good basketball team.”
Billy Buckley backed Ajian with seven points. Nick Smith and Austin Finley each had six.
Junior Varsity: Mansfield Senior knocked off Madison 45-35 in junior varsity action. The Tygers trailed 22-15 at halftime, but outscored the Rams 15-0 in the third quarter. Ehric Brooks led Mansfield Senior with 14 points, wile Deshawn Harris had 12. Deion Miller led Madison with 16 points.
