Tigers Play Catch Up to Mansfield - Boys Basketball

In a wire to wire win for the Hornets, the Tigers were playing catch up all night as Mansfield wins 83-67.

       Mansfield won the tip, scored first and never trailed from that point on. The Hornets were led by Jr. F Samuel Stevens (#33) who scored 17 of his 27 pts in the first half. THS' Sr. G Michael Quinn (#2) also had 27 pts with Sr. G John Martins (#4) dropping 17 pts as well. It seemed like every time THS went on a run the Hornets would hit back to back threes', killing the Tigers momentum. The Tigers never quit though as they were down by as much as 17 pts in the 4th cutting it to a 9 pt deficit but couldn't get any closer as Mansfield won the game 83-67.

    Mansfield went on a quick 8-0 run to start the 1st as Samuels hit threes on back to back possessions. Martins dribbled into the paint making a pull up jumper and Quinn hit a three on the next possession to make it 10-5 Hornets with 5:53 to go in the 1st. With under two minutes to go Quinn made a great pass to So. F Tyler Stewart (#30) under the rim who rewarded his generosity to make it 21-14 Hornets. That kindness was repayed as Martins found Quinn underneath the basket and he finished on the other side of the rim with a reverse lay-up to cut the deficit down to three with 1:15 to go in the qtr. Stewart had a nice block on Jr. G Makhi Baskin (#1) with about 38 seconds left but was called for a ticky tack foul with 2.3 to go on So. F Terence Guy (#23) who made both FTs to end the qtr making it 23-18 Mansfield.

    The Hornets continued their three point barrage as they started the 2nd on a 10 - 2 run forcing THS to call a timeout three minutes into the qtr. Coach Dacey clearly wasn't pleased with his players for not closing out on the Hornets shooters. The Tigers defensive effort certainly picked up coming out of that timeout and Martins hit a nice 5ft jumpshot along the baseline to make it 35-24 with just under three minutes to go in the 2nd. Martins then took it hard to the rim and should've had the And 1 with just over a minute to go but didn't get a whistle, which seemed to be an unfortunate theme for THS tonight. Samuels closed out the qtr strong for Mansfield scoring the teams 10 of its last 11 pts to go into halftime with a 44-27 advantage.
    The 3rd proved to be more of the same as Hornets Sr. G Thomas Dooling (#4) hit an uncontested three at the 6:09 mark to make it 47-27. THS' Sr. F Alex Midouin (#15) got in on the action as he scored on back to back possessions to make it 49-31 as the Tigers kept trying to claw (no pun intended) their way back into the game. Quinn then had five quick points of his own as he made a Steph Curry-like three from way downtown and had a great steal in the passing lane about 20 seconds later as he made the And 1 lay-up and completed the three point play making it 57-40 with 2:15 left in the 3rd. Sr. G Lou Vendrell (#1) hit a tough contested shot at the rim at the 1:45 mark and Martins made both his FTs about 20 seconds later cutting Mansfields' lead to 13. Dooling hit yet another three with 38.9 seconds left which essentially ended the qtr, putting the Hornets back up by 17 giving them a 63-46 advantage going into the 4th.

    Give the Tigers credit, they never gave up even when the game seemed out of reach. They even cut it down to a nine point Hornet lead off two made FTs by Martins to make it 69-60 with 4:39 left in the game. But that was as close as THS could get as Samuels hit a corner three on the next trip down the floor for Mansfield. THS made it interesting with about a minute and a half left as they started trapping on defense but only managed one point out of that final stanza. Two made FTS by Samuels and a nice take to the rim by Hornets So. G Matthew Boen (#5) ended the game with Mansfield winning 83-67.

    It's hard not to think that had the game been a bit closer the Tigers would've had a few more calls go their way. But the mix of uncommon mistakes on defense plus a few starters again sitting out this game was enough to do them in. The Tigers will look to bounce back in their next game against the (7-7) Stoughton Black Knights, Tuesday, January 29th. Tip-off is at 6:30.

Jason Delgado

Jason is a Taunton Alum and sports journalist covering home games and meets at Taunton High School.