Pictured is Zayne Dugan
The Mansfield Sr Tigers were high on the hog after defeating JC Westside last week for Homecoming and looked to carry that momentum for the rest of the season. Going into their game with the blue Tigers on Monday night, Mansfield was primed to dish out an upset. It was the Tigers who left the court upset this time though as Acorn torched Mansfield 76-43.
On a positive note, the Tigers welcomed back their Backboard Beasts as Bri Sanderson and Zayne Dugan returned to action. The celebration was cut short though as Mansfield found out they would still be missing Braxton Byers and also adding Tyler Escalante, Ethan Pettus, and Austin Quinalty to the MIA list for their matchup against the Blue Tigers. Disadvantage or not, there was a game to play and Mansfield was not going to back down.
Although not backing down is valiant, being outmatch is a totally different story. Mansfield was able to keep it a game in the first quarter holding the Blue Tigers to a 20-14 lead. Only being down by 6 points isn’t bad at all against a 2A powerhouse like Acorn. But that’s where it all ended for the Tigers as Acorn jumped all over Mansfield in the second quarter. Even though the Tigers had Sanderson and Dugan back, Acorn covered them like hot syrup on fresh pancakes. Scoring legends JoJo Bailey and Codi Chick weren’t completely stopped, but the Blue Tigers did a dang good job keeping them on a leash. With Acorns precise offensive plays and Mansfield’s offense struggling, the Tigers went into the half tails tucked down 43-29.
While Acorn grew stronger as the game went on, the Tigers fell hard and hit every branch on the way down. With the Blue Tigers rolling on the scoreboard and fast breaks on Mansfield, the Tigers began losing their mental edge in the game. Fouls starting pouring in like a waterfall and poor decision-making created bad passes which led to turnovers and more points for Acorn. A concoction of great plays by Acorn and poor plays by Mansfield led to a 64-38 Blue Tiger lead at the end of the 3rd quarter and inevitably, a 76-43 final score to the game.
Codi Chick wasn’t silent in the game by any means and still led the team with 19 points before getting into foul trouble. Clint “Clutch” Stovall was able to find what few holes Acorns defense had to hang up 8 points. Greyson Baggett came off the bench in the game to sink a few ringers along with JoJo Baily who each scored 5 points. Rounding out the scoring was Drew Elmore and Zayne Dugan whose fierce offensive rebounding gave them the opportunity to put up 4 and 2 points respectively.
The Tigers game against Acorn can be put in the history books for now. A rough game, yes, but there are more games to play and Mansfield will look to actively correct all mistakes made in the Acorn game. Michael Jordan once said, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” The Tigers may have had it rough recently, but they won’t stop trying, that’s for sure.
