MANSFIELD — The Tygers kept their foot on the accelerator Tuesday night.
Mansfield Senior raced to a 19-7 first-quarter lead and never slowed down in a 62-43 Ohio Cardinal Conference win over Mount Vernon at Pete Henry Gym.
Senior High (11-3 overall, 8-2 in the OCC) completed the season sweep after beating the Yellow Jackets (7-8, 5-5) 53-50 at The Hive in mid-December. The Tygers led 21-4 after the first quarter in the first meeting only to be outscored 46-32 the rest of the game.
“We almost let one get away at their place, so we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again,” Mansfield Senior coach Marquis Sykes said. “I think the biggest difference this time was we were able to maintain our discipline. We were more locked in to the little details.
“We were able to turn them over and we did a solid job of rebounding the basketball.”
Duke Reese jump-started Senior High’s first-quarter barrage, scoring nine points in the opening eight minutes. Reese, who was held scoreless in Saturday’s loss at Lexington, finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
“We had a tough loss on Saturday and we had a long talk about it the following day,” Reese said. “We felt like we had something to prove.
“When we played Mount Vernon the first time, we had a big lead but they got back in the game. We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen this time.”
The Tygers pushed their advantage to 29-14 at the half.
Kyevie Roane, who was held scoreless in the first quarter, scored Senior High’s final six points of the second period, setting the stage for another strong second half. The 6-foot-1 junior swingman scored 15 points after intermission, finishing with a team-high 21 and matching Reese with eight rebounds.
“He is very fundamental in that mid-post area and around the rim,” Mount Vernon coach Nick Coon said of Roane. “He’s got really good body control. He really hurt us in that second half.”
Quentin Rowland led the Jackets with 12 points and five rebounds. Isaiah Columber had nine points, while Andrew Burke added eight.
Mount Vernon was 17-for-49 from the field.
“We generated a ton of good looks at the rim and at the 3-point line,” Coon said. “We can’t be a team that bases its success on how well we are shooting the ball because more often than not at the high school level we’re not going to shoot a super-high percentage.
“We have to be able to find other ways and that starts with defense and rebounding the basketball.”
The Tygers, who were pounded on the glass at Lexington, out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 37-21. Senior High swiped 11 offensive rebounds resulting in a 16-2 advantage in second-chance points.
“After Saturday, we wanted to get back to being ourselves and doing what we do,” Sykes said. “We didn’t live up to our standard Saturday, so we wanted to get back to playing Tyger basketball.
“Now we can focus on getting better and see where the chips fall.”
Despite the loss, Coon likes what he has seen from his team recently.
“We’re seeing progress and that is the fun part as a coach,” Coon said. “We’ll wake up tomorrow and get back to work and that would be the same approach if we had won tonight
“Each day is a new day and our kids have bought into what we’re doing.”
