When the 2A West Regional Championship game came to a close on February 24th in Greenland, the Mansfield Tigers looked at a scoreboard that showed a 50-46 loss to Lavaca. The Tigers then did the customary post-game handshake with the Golden Arrows and headed for the locker room. As the Regional Championship and Runner-Up trophies were being prepared to be handed out, there were no Tiger players to be seen. As Head Coach, Joshua Brown, retrieved his players, he could be heard saying “They didn’t know. None of them have ever gotten this far. They’ve never been here before”. Not only had no one on the Mansfield Tigers roster ever played in a Regional Championship, but they weren’t even supposed to be there to start with according to many critics early on in the season.
Mansfield started off their season a little short-staffed. With four of their eventual five starters still on the gridiron in late November instead of on the court, many would’ve thought Mansfield would be mowed over in their first game against their first opponent, Charleston. What happened instead was a show of determination and grit from a young group looking to make a name for themselves. The Tigers did narrowly defeat Charleston, 43-42, but fell in their next two games against 3A opponents Paris and Booneville. Even when the team welcomed back their football teammates, the Tigers only went 1-3 in their schedule against larger programs. Mansfield’s final loss of that stretch though is what began the separation between a perceived losing season and an upstart dangerous team. The Tigers took a trip to Elkins’ brand new crown jewel stadium to face off against one of the 3A’s best teams. Although the Tigers lost 44-41 in the final seconds, the loss kickstarted the team into gear going into conference play. “We had a lot of guys come straight from playing in a semifinal football game that Friday night,” said Coach Brown. “Then less than 24 hours later, they were playing a basketball game against one of the Top 10 teams in the 3A. Everyone had a competitor’s spirit that night and they nearly pulled off the upset”.
Being so close to conference play with a dismal 2-5 record isn’t a position any team or coaching staff likes to see, but that was the factual mirror that Mansfield had to face at the time. It’s not often that a team with a losing record begins to knock down teams that they are severe underdogs against, but that’s exactly what the Tigers began to do. The Tigers had a 49-47 heart-stopping win over Poteau, a three-point win over Western Yell, and then back-to-back wins over 2A powerhouses Hector, Lavaca, and Acorn. As the rest of the 2A-4 Conference was warming up, Mansfield was on fire. It didn’t matter if it was a blowout win or an edge-of-the-seat thriller, Mansfield was still putting together the wins. The Tigers did have a thorn in their side the size of a dragon though as Mountainburg swept the Tigers in conference play and Lavaca was able to hand Mansfield another conference loss before the regular season ended. All in all, the Tigers went from a 2-5 record early on to enter the 2A-4 District Tournament as a 3Seed with an impressive 15-8 overall record.
The 2A-4 District Tournament was hosted in one of the hardest places to play for any team in the conference. Lavaca. Being a 3Seed in hostile territory put the Tigers as the underdogs again and after an edge-of-the-seat 45-44 win against JC Westside in their opening game, many thought that that was the last win for the Tigers as they advanced to play none other than Mountainburg. This time though, Mansfield was able to put out the Dragons’ fiery offense to beat Mountainburg for the first time in the season. Mansfield moved on to the District Championship where they upset the 1Seeded Golden Arrows, 50-46, on their home court to win the 2A-4 District Championship. The Tigers run continued into the 2A Regional Tournament as Mansfield rolled past Haas Hall and Hector to earn a spot into the Tournament Championship where they played none other than the Lavaca Golden Arrows. Lavaca got payback by beating Mansfield 51-40 leaving the Tigers as the 2A West Regional Runner-ups and a 2Seed going into the 2A State Tournament. The Tigers dropped their first game of the 2A State Tournament to Junction City, 53-42, thus ending a wild season of Mansfield Tiger basketball.
None of the Tigers on the team had ever won a District Championship, made Runner-Up in a Regional Tournament, nor been in a State Tournament game. No one expected them to do any of that either. “I was very proud of our guys and the way they approached this season,” said Coach Brown. “They gave themselves a chance every night. They were a lot of fun to coach and our practices were very competitive”. A lot of the reason that there was very little faith in the Tigers by the critics was the fact that Mansfield boasted two seniors on the roster. Seniors Peyton Martin and Zach Hayslip led the very young team through the rough spots and showed their younger counterparts that it’s never over until it’s over. Both seniors earned All-Conference postseason accolades with Martin having 6.2 points per game and 3.6 rebounds while Hayslip ended his season with 5.9 points per game and a 6.6 rebound average.
The hot hand on the court in most of the Tigers games this season was junior, Daniel Burton. Burton led the team in points per game with 15 and earned 2A-4 All-Conference, 2A All-Tournament Team, and 2A All-State postseason awards. Burton’s brothers, Samual and Andrew Burton, combined for 19.4 points and 12.9 rebounds per game which gave both players 2A-4 All-Conference awards. Junior, Winston Allison, also earned 2A-4 All-Conference status with his clutch shooting skills coupled with 6.8 points per game. Again, this was a young team. Players like Joseph Carter, Cooper Edwards, Jonah Martin, Cameron Pettus, and a slew of other talented Tigers were vital in the season and will likely be even more impressive when the 2025 season starts. Lastly, every great army has a great leader. Head Coach, Joshua Brown, was impeccable this season and his peers acknowledged that by naming Brown as the 2A-4 Conference Coach of the Year.
But Coach Brown won’t toot his own horn. Instead, he gave the credit to, well, everyone except himself. “The support of our community was vital to our success and we are very thankful for those that came to the games and those that watched online. Our seniors will be missed tremendously but we look forward to seeing our younger guys grow and continue to get better. This group won’t just be remembered for their District Championship or the first Regional Championship game experience but for how hard they played night in and night out and just being great young men. I’m so thankful that I get to/got to coach them each day”.
