TOLEDO — Davion Mack’s jaw-dropping dunk energized the crowd. But it was D.J. Corbin’s grit that sent Mansfield Senior’s bench into a frenzy.

Corbin scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds in Senior High’s 65-61 win over Alliance in Wednesday’s regional semifinals. But it’s his willingness to roll up his sleeves and do the dirty work that has sparked the Tygers’ unlikely run to the Elite Eight.

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If there is a loose ball in Corbin’s orbit, the rugged 6-foot-1 senior is the first one to dive on the floor after it — and there’s a pretty good chance he’ll come out of the scrum with it.

That’s just what happened moments after Mack’s thunderous right-hand slam midway through the pivotal second quarter Wednesday night. Alliance’s Parker Woods hurried the ball into the frontcourt, where the rangy Mack poked it away.

Corbin and Woods both hit the floor and Corbin pried it from Woods’ grasp for the steal.

It was one of Corbin’s three steals. His step-back 3-pointer less than two minutes later capped a 10-0 run as the Tygers outscored the Aviators 16-4 in the period.

Senior High’s senior leader shows the way

As Corbin has gone, so have gone the Tygers. Senior High has played with more grit and tenacity in four postseason games than it showed during an up-and-down regular season.

“The guys made some game-winning plays,” Senior High coach Marquis Sykes said. “It wasn’t about X’s and O’s. It was really just about being tough and being physical.

“It was really about who had the most heart and who wanted it more.”

The Tygers meandered through the first half of the regular season. Senior High won four straight to open the year, but lost five of the next nine and was 8-5 after a 71-59 loss at New Philadelphia in mid-January.

It was Mansfield Senior’s third straight loss and included blowouts at Lima Senior and at home against Massillon.

“At the beginning of the season we were a little cocky because we knew we were better than people on paper,” Corbin said. “We went into games thinking we can beat them because of our skill.

“Then we went on a little losing streak. After that we were like, ‘We don’t want to lose any more.’ That’s the mentality we took into the tournament.”

Since the loss at New Philadelphia, the Tygers are 11-2. They will take a seven-game winning streak into Saturday’s regional championship game against Toledo Central Catholic.

What has been the secret recipe?

So what sparked the turnaround?

“Once we got toward the end of the season, our guys decided to really lock in in practice,” Sykes said. “They decided to really get engaged and I think they just realized that we weren’t playing up to our potential a majority of the season.

“We knew that we could be better than what we had been playing.”

Nowhere is Senior High’s renewed intensity more evident than at the defensive end of the floor. The Tygers had 10 steals and outrebounded the Aviators, 32-26, despite giving up several inches at almost every spot on the floor. 

Senior High made every hustle play.

“That’s what this game was all about because (Alliance) plays the exact same way as we do,” Sykes said. “We knew it would come down to who valued the basketball, who rebounded the best and who got to the 50-50 balls.

“I would say overall we probably won those battles.”

Tygers remain calm under pressure

The Tygers will have to do it again Saturday. Highly-regarded Toledo Central Catholic pounded Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 70-44 and has won all four of its tournament games by 20 or more points.

Meanwhile, Senior High has won its past three postseason games by a combined 15 points.

Including the playoffs, the Tygers have played in 14 games decided by 10 or fewer points. They are 10-4 in those contests.

“We’ve been in these situations before,” said Andrew Brooks Jr., who scored 15 points and grabbed four rebounds Wednesday. “If we break down and start fighting with each other, we know it’s going to be over with.

“But we pull together, we stay together, we talk it through and we come out on top.”