Schools

Mansfield Beats North Attleboro 57-37 in Home Opener

Hornets dominate.

Mansfield dominated North Attleboro on Friday 57-37 in their home opener.

Hornet guard Michael Hershman lead the Mansfield scoring with 11 points, followed very closely by forward Brendan Hill and team co captain Brian Hershman. Nipping at their heels was guard Ryan DeAndrade andforward Gregory Romanko with nine points each, followed by co captain Terence O'Mara with six points and Sean Higgins with two.

The Hornets started off strong, scoring first and held a steady lead during much of the first period. Mansfield was leading 7-0 with points from Ryan DeAndrade and Brian Hershman four minutes left in the period when North Attleboro started to gain momentum.

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NA jumped back into the game and took the lead. At the end of the period, the Red Rocketeers were up 14-12. The Reds solidified their lead during the first half of the second period, leading 18-12.

"We struggled early on with the pre-game jitters," Mansfield head coach Michael Vaughan said. "I only had three returning kids from last year's team. I think we did some foolish things, just from people that struggled and weren't ready for the varsity atmosphere. "

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The Hornets took it back in the last few minutes of the half, taking advantage of turnovers and fast breaks to end the period in the lead 24-20.

"Once they adjusted and calmed down, I think our talent came through," Vaughan said.

Mansfield lead by ten points towards the end of the third period, rebounding as much as possible and keeping the ball in play despite extremely tough conditions. Right before the buzzer, Brendan Hill got in one last basket to end the third 41-29.

Mansfield kept their cool in the fourth, with North Attleboro scoring eight points during the whole period, and missing many crucial baskets throughout. Mansfield kept pace with NA to end the game at 57-37.

"We were better defensively than I anticipated," Vaughan said. "Usually this early, we're not that fine-tuned defensively. Offensively, we had a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys. It was a good team victory."


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