In a highly anticipated matchup, the Mansfield Sr Tigers and Waldron Sr Bulldogs set the hardwood ablaze on Friday, December 20 in Mansfield. The boy’s and girl’s basketball “Battle for Scott County” was primed to be the unstoppable force vs the immovable object. With each town’s fans on both sides of the court packed in, all of the preparation for an awesome game was set and ready.
Mansfield jumped right in the mix of things from the tip-off and had Waldron reeling. With smooth passes and ball movement to every white shirt on the court, the Tigers took a quick lead on Waldron forcing them to regroup. Throughout the first half of the contest, the Sr Tigers showed that they would not be seen as an easy W on the Bulldogs schedule. Mansfield was on fire in the first half hitting three-pointers left and right, driving to the basket like madmen and owning the backboards. Layton Howard caused the Tiger faithful to explode towards the end of the first half with a massive “In Yo’ Face” slam dunk out of nowhere. At the half, Mansfield had the Bulldogs on their heels and the Mansfield fans on their feet.
The ensuing third quarter was more on the same. The Tigers kept the pressure on Waldron frustrating the Bulldogs at every turn. It was an all-out street ball war between both teams. Steals? Check. Blocked shots? Check. Rebounds? Check, check, checkity, check, check. No one even looked at the scoreboard in the third quarter for fear they’d miss the next big play. But when the fourth quarter rolled around, the Tigers just didn’t have enough gas in the tank to finish Waldron off. Waldron pulled ahead for good at the beginning of the 4th ending the Tigers hopes at an upset handing Mansfield an 86-65 loss.
Layton Howard led the team with 17 points on the game. Jaicy Griffin and Tyler Holmes were perfect from the three-point perimeter knocking down a combined three shots. Griffin ended the game with 12 points as Holmes raked in nine points. Also with nine points was Codi Chick who went 2 for 5 from the three-point range. Ethan Stovall was the king in the paint scoring 13 points on the Bulldogs and led the team in free-throw points with three. JoJo Bailey added to the team total with five points of his own. The Sr High Tigers will compete next in the Bill Frye Classic on Friday, December 27 at 7:30 p.m. against Arkoma.
