Aggression and competitiveness are always front and center when watching high school boy’s sports. The Mansfield Tigers have faced adversity in the 3A-4 this season but have not left an ounce of effort on the floor at the end of every game. Blood and sweat have been left on the floor, but not effort. So, when Mansfield hosted Lamar on Tuesday, February 4th, the same effort was expected by the Tigers’ hometown crowd. The effort was there. The competitiveness was there. The aggression was definitely there. The win on the other hand would have to wait for another day as Mansfield suffered another tough loss in 3A-4 play falling to Lamar 81-64.
It didn’t take long for Lamar to jump all over the Tigers as the Warriors won the jump ball, sank a three-pointer, and followed everything up with a breakaway layup to take an early 5-0 lead over Mansfield. Samuel Burton stepped up for the Tigers to end Lamar’s scoring streak with a powerful board bucket to put Mansfield on the scoreboard and make it a one possession 5-3 game. Burton’s bucket didn’t seem to faze the Warriors, though, as they again ran rampant on the court with all-star moves to score another five unanswered points on the Tigers. With Lamar scoring in quick bursts, the Tigers stomped on the brakes to counter the Warrior’s momentum. The plan worked seemingly perfect too as Mansfield passed the ball around to try and set up perfect shots. Perfect shots are in Daniel Burton’s DNA. Burton drained back-to-back three-point shots to get the Tigers within two points of Lamar. Samuel Burton then tied the game up after getting fouled on a layup and adding the plus one, setting the game at 10-10. The tie lasted only a couple of seconds as Lamar hit a three-point shot on the other end of the court and then caught a fast break steal that ended in a Warriors slam dunk. This game was getting hot and so were the attitudes as players on both teams began to get a little bit chippy as the opening quarter was winding down. Cooler heads prevailed though, and the Tigers closed the score to a 17-16 Lamar lead with a pair of hotshot threes by Winston Allison and Samuel Burton with just 2:21 left on the clock. Mansfield took their first lead of the game off another three-point swish, but Lamar regained the lead on the scoreboard to end the first quarter with a narrow 21-20 lead over the Tigers.
Larmar struck first in the second quarter with a layup and a pair of free throws to extend the score to 25-20 in the Warrior’s favor. Winston Allison answered with a short shot from inside the box which was enough to make Lamar call an early timeout at 6:46 in the second quarter. The time-out gave the Tigers time to cool down but only allowed Lamar to heat up as the Warriors hit a three-pointer right after coming back onto the floor. But facing the heat isn’t anything new for Mansfield as Daniel Burton showed his poise under pressure and sank a three of his own to set the score at 30-25. Andrew Burton then brought down the house with an extremely contested power bucket to bring the Tigers within three points of the lead. With their lead cut to 30-27, Lamar began to scramble which stirred up errors for the Warriors in the form of fouls. With Lamar holding their aggressiveness, Daniel Burton cranked his up to 10 and took a steal the length of the court to tie things up at 30-30. Lamar quickly regained the lead with a layup as the back-and-forth basketball bantering continued. Winston Allison sent the home crowd into a frenzy when he swished a three-pointer to give Mansfield their first lead of the night putting the Tigers ahead of Lamar with a 33-32 score. The Warriors weren’t done yet either though as Lamar blazed back with four unanswered points to again regain the lead, 36-33, with 1:41 left in the half. Lamar began to hit another hot streak as the second quarter winded down. Andrew Burton plowed his way through traffic for a board bucket to break the Warrior run, but Lamar was just too skilled to stop. The first half wasn’t a battle, not even close. This was a downright war down to the buzzer with Lamar leading Mansfield 44-35 going into the half.
The third quarter started off with, well, not a bang as both teams shot and missed by a mile from beyond the arch. The slow start didn’t last very long though as Lamar was able to put up a duce, but Samuel Burton pulled off a spin-a-rooni layup to match the Warrior’s score. The Warriors were able to land a double-digit lead with a free throw setting the score at 47-37 at the 6:03 mark. While their scoring wasn’t as fast-paced as the first half, Lamar was making their shots count as they stretched their lead to 50-37. When the break was over though, it was game on for the Warriors as Lamar rolled in a soft shot. Daniel Burton wasn’t so soft with his shot though as Burton drained a long-range three-pointer. Winston Allison drilled a three-pointer of his own to set the score at 52-44 still in Lamars favor with 3:24 left in the quarter. Allison again showed his skills with a mid-air floating shot. Both teams went back and forth playing a game of “anything you can do I can do better” as the score kept creeping higher and higher. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Lamar never let Mansfield within a ten-point spread during that stretch. That is until Andrew Burton powered his way in for a board bucket to cut Lamars lead to 58-50 with 0:37 left in the quarter. An ally-oop put-back hoop jumped Lamar back into a double-digit lead again as the third quarter ended with Mansfield down 61-50, but still in the game.
Mansfield started the fourth quarter with the ball, but a Lamar player piggybacked off of Samuel Burton’s shoulders on a rebound which stopped the game for Burton to shoot free throws. Burton went one for two to bring the score within 10 points, 61-51. Even though fatigue was setting in on both teams, the players were still putting on quite the show. While both teams were playing their tails off, it was Lamar who was scoring points as the Warriors jumped out to a 68-51 lead forcing Mansfield to call a timeout and regroup at the 6:31 mark of the final quarter. Que Daniel Burton. Burton saw a three written on the wall and swished his shot. Andrew Burton followed suit with a board bucket to cut the Tiger’s deficit to ten points again, but Lamar kept finding a way to hit their mark on the scoreboard to go up 72-56 on the Tigers. The trend continued as the game went on, but the Lamar Warriors proved to be just too much for Mansfield as the Tigers fell to Lamar with an 81-64 final score.
