Pictured is Joseph Carter and Ethan Martin
Sometimes there are situations that you have no control over. With a pandemic ever-present in the day to day lives of everyone, the Mansfield 7th Grade Tigers fell victim to one of the side effects by being handed a shorter than normal basketball season. But, just because a situation isn’t in your control doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun with it as the Tigers closed out their season with a BANG against the JC Westside Rebels with a 21-8 victory.
The game tipped off sluggish for the Tigers as they struggled to wake up from their long trip from Mansfield to Coal Hill, AR. But once they shook the cobwebs off though, Mansfield was all hoops. The Tigers strolled into the half with a 15-3 lead. Coach Keith Stovall gathered his players for the final time with them as 7th Graders, coached them up, and sent them right back into battle. JC Westside came out on fire but so did Mansfield as they were able to roll up another 6 points in the second half. To make the game even better for the Tigers, Mansfield was able to clear their bench one final time as every player was able to contribute minutes in the match.
When it comes down to the points Mansfield scored in the game, you’ll notice an unplanned but nice touch in the win that only these boys could pull off. The Rebels may have had canons at their battle for Coal Hill, but Mansfield brought their own “Kanon”. Kanon Fisher led the Tigers with 6 points in the game and secured multiple rebounds on the afternoon. Cooper Edwards tallied his final points of the year hanging up 5 points on the scoreboard. Traevin Copeland was able to dip, dive, juke, and jive his way to 4 points and Joseph Carter tacked on three points. Logan Newman sent the bench on fire with a sweet two-pointer and Ethan Martin capped off Mansfield’s scoring with a free throw for 1 point. Now, if you were keeping up with the scoring, you noticed the unplanned oddity. The Tigers scored 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 players.
The 7th Grade Tigers ended their season with a 5-3 record and now have the Tigers Eye on the 2021-2022 basketball season. Although they didn’t play very many games and many on the team were greenhorns, the Tigers found a way to make success out of this COVID mess. If all players return for next season, coupled with the heavy talent in this season’s 8th Grade, Mansfield could see one heck of a Jr High team next year.
