It was only fitting that the Ohio Cardinal Conference eighth-grade championship game was played inside Madison’s Wayne E. Miller Gymnasium.

The former home of the Rams is a throwback to an earlier era, and so is the Mansfield basketball team that claimed the crown with a gritty 52-45 win over Ashland on Thursday.

The Tygers heralded Class of 2030 completed its second consecutive undefeated basketball season. The same group of Tygers went unbeaten in football for a second straight year in the fall. 

The Class of 2030 has never lost a football game or a basketball game.

Not one.

But that wasn’t what had the city’s knowledgeable basketball fans on their feet Thursday evening.

Every time there was a loose ball on the floor, there was a Tyger diving for it. Every time there was a hustle play to be made, a white jersey made it.

“We actually do a drill called ‘Get on the Floor’ every day in practice,” coach David Phillips said. “I’ll throw the ball anywhere in the gym and the person who gets it has to come down the court and score. The person who doesn’t get the ball has to sit down and play defense.

“It’s a fun drill to do and they think they’re just having fun, but that translates to the game. It makes them tough.”

Toughness is this group’s hallmark — both physical and mental.

The same team that blew out almost every opponent as seventh-graders — not a single game was decided by fewer than 10 points last winter — battled all winter this year.

They beat Lexington by eight points in the regular season and 10 in the semifinals. They bested Sandusky by five and Dover by 10.

“I tell them every game, ‘People are coming for you.’ We’ve got a target on our backs,” Phillips said amid Thursday’s court-side celebration. “We’ve faced adversity and we’ve been humbled.”

It happened again Thursday as upset-minded Ashland had the Tygers on the ropes during the first half. But Phillips’ squad flipped the script in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead then held on in the fourth.

It was a group played like it doesn’t expect to lose.

“They don’t panic because they’ve been there before,” Phillips said. “Teams are going to compete with us in the first half and that’s fine, but they’ve got to match that energy all four quarters and that’s hard to do.

“We’ve been a very good second-half team. The third quarter is usually our best quarter.”

David Phillips III, one of the coach’s two sons on the team, knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 12 points in the third period. He scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half after his father benched him in the second quarter.

“He missed some shots he normally makes and was getting upset,” the elder Phillips said. “I’ve coached him for so long and I can tell when he is getting frustrated.”

Prince Phillips and Tristyn Johnson each scored 10 points in the victory. Nearly all 13 players on the roster saw floor time and contributed to the victory.

Before cutting down the nets Thursday night, the team posed for photos for an appreciative fan base that flooded the floor. A banner hung prominently in the front row.

It read, “Twice Crowned and Still Hungry.”

It remains to be seen what the future holds for the uber-talented Class of 2030. Success at the junior high level doesn’t always translate.

Nevertheless, it’s worth celebrating a feat that, as fas as anyone knows, has never been accomplished before.

“I was told this was the first time in school history a class has been undefeated in both football and basketball two years in a row,” Phillips said. “Most kids never get an opportunity like this.

“It’s a special class and they understood the assignment.”

Most kids never get an opportunity like this.

Mansfield Tygers eighth-grade coach David Phillips