Mansfield versus Cedarville in any sport always seems to leave fans on the edge of their seat. With the Tigers now in the 3A in basketball, that means the Tigers and Pirates will be facing off against each other in multiple sports each season for the next couple of years. What more could fans want? Basketball is a sport that has illuded these two programs for a while now when it comes to conference play, but on Saturday, January 4th the Tigers and Pirates hit the hardwood leaving everything on the court in a showstopping 3A showdown.
Mansfield’s Joseph Carter won the tip off giving the Tigers the first possession of the game. Cedarville fouled the Tigers quickly sending Cameron Pettus to the line, but Pettus went 0-2 on his free throws. Winston Allison promptly made up for it with a three-pointer to give the Tigers their first points of the game and a 3-0 lead. Cedarville fired right back with a board bucket, but Cameron Pettus showed that his early shots wouldn’t phase him as he drained a three-pointer. Samuel Burton then took a turnover from Cedarville and powered in for a layup forcing Cedarville to call a timeout with Mansfield in the lead 8-2. The timeout did not benefit the Pirates as the Tigers continued their high-speed and high-pressure game plan. Samuel and Daniel Burton’s early heat caught fire with less than three minutes left in the opening quarter as the brothers were successful on shots inside the box and outside the perimeter to help Mansfield close out the first quarter with a 17-7 lead.
While the Burton brothers blew the Pirates away in the first quarter, the Tigers showed they’re a well-oiled team as Cameron Pettus and Joseph Carter put in a pair of two-point buckets before Cedarville could net their first shot. A foul by the Pirates allowed Pettus to drop in a free throw giving Mansfield a 22-12 lead on Cedarville with 5:11 left in the half. Andrew Burton tacked on a free throw to the scoreboard before Cedarville could get their third basket of the second quarter. Winston Allison added a pair of free throws, but Cedarville answered back with a long-range three-pointer. Daniel Burton landed a layup and followed that up with a lay-stuck as the ball froze on the top of the rim. The slight pause in the game to get the ball down didn’t slow down the Tigers though as they continued to pound away at Cedarville with under two minutes left in the half and a 27-17 lead. Winston Allison pulled a twist and scored through traffic to put the Tigers up by twelve points as the clock ticked down. The Tigers were able to tack on a free throw as the clock ran out and go into halftime leading the Pirates 31-19.
Cedarville came out of the half with an early board bucket to close the score within ten points, but Samuel was fouled soon after allowing Burton to get a point from the free-throw line. Both teams seemed a little off after that as passes, fouls, and turnovers were made for the next couple of minutes. Cedarville made the first points after lull with a layup at the 4:12 mark of the third quarter setting the score at 32-23. The Pirates didn’t stop there though as they rattled off two more buckets and two three-pointers to take a 33-32 lead before the Tigers could respond. Andrew Burton regained the lead for the Tigers with a powerful drive to the net, but a one-point lead wouldn’t cut it with Cedarville’s momentum. Luckily for Mansfield, the clock and a pair of Andrew Burton free throws allowed Mansfield to keep their lead going into the final quarter with a 36-33 score.
What was an early blowout in the opening quarter was now a nailbiter as Mansfield and Cedarville stepped onto the court for the fourth and final quarter of the game. Both teams traded missed shots and turnovers for the first minute before Cedarville was left open for a short shot for the score. Winston Allison fired back with a short shot of his own followed by a Samuel Burton steal for a breakaway layup to stretch the Tiger’s lead to 40-35. Cedarville put the Tigers in foul trouble and gained a point off a foul, but Joseph Carter came off the bench to drop back-to-back layups for the Tigers to make up for it. Winston Allison drew a foul and dropped a pair of free throws and just like that, the Tigers were up by double digits again with a 46-36 score forcing Cedarville to take a timeout. Cedarville came out of the timeout with a board bucket, but Cameron Pettus rallied up and sank a shot of his own. Samuel Burton then took another steal from a breakaway layup shifting the game into high gear with just 2:34 remaining in the game. After the Tigers run, the Pirates again took a timeout to calm their nerves. Cedarville quickly put up a score, but Mansfield was content with the eight-point lead and chose to burn some time off the clock. The tik-tok-tik-tok of the clock winding down forced Cedarville to start fouling to slow the game down in their favor. With 1:01 left in the game and a 50-42 lead, Mansfield called a time-out to set up a game plan for the final minute. The plan was to let Cedarville foul and take the free throws to victory. And that’s exactly what the Tigers did as Mansfield strolled on to defeat Cedarville with a final score of 57-44.
