Mansfield High Boys Basketball Rallies To Beat Attleboro

It was all about effort for theteam during its Hockomock League Large School Division game on Tuesday night in Attleboro.

The Hornets trailed the Bombardiers by 16 points in the first half before putting together an impressive 35-7 run and eventually coming away with a 56-47 victory.

The victory improved Mansfield to 8-2 overall, 6-0 in the league and 3-0 in the division. The loss by Attleboro, which dealt a heavy blow to its division title hopes, dropped the team to 7-3 overall, 3-3 in the league and 0-3 in the division.

Mansfield junior guard Brian Hershman led all scorers with 22 points, while senior forward Joe Gracia contributed 11 points. Senior captain and guard Jeff Hill scored eight points and senior captain and forward Michael Lofton had seven.

Senior captain and forward Kebba Nasso led Attleboro with 15 points, while senior captain and guard Nate Robitaille had 13. Junior guard Stephen Edmonds also scored seven points for the hosts.

A 7-0 run by the Bombardiers, which concluded with a basket by senior captain and forward Shawn Silva, gave the hosts a 33-17 lead with 3:40 remaining in the first half.

While Attleboro missed several opportunities to build on its lead, Mansfield went on an 8-1 surge to end the first half and close the gap to nine at the break, 34-25. Hershman scored five points during this run, while Hill had two and Gracia added one point.

“Any time you can weather the storm and then go on a run, you put yourself in a position to win the game,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan.

With the Bombardiers ahead 36-27 with seven minutes left in the third, the Hornets scored the next nine points to tie the game at 36-36 with 4:05 remaining. Gracia had five points during this surge with Hill and senior forward Chris Johnson each having two.

A basket by Nasso would give Attleboro its final lead of the night at 38-36 with 2:26 left in the third. Mansfield would score the final six points of the quarter to take a 42-38 lead after three. Lofton, Hershman and senior guard Dan Dion all contributed baskets as the Hornets outscored the hosts 17-4 in the quarter and ended an impressive 25-5 surge.

Mansfield would use an 11-0 run in the latter stages of the third quarter and the early part of the fourth to open up a nine-point advantage at 47-38 with 5:42 remaining in the game. Lofton and Hershman each had baskets and Johnson chipped in with a free throw as the visitors scored the first five points of the fourth to open up a nine-point lead.

A basket by Silva ended the run and pulled Attleboro back to within seven at 47-40 with 5:15 left. But the Hornets scored the next five points to take it largest lead of the night at 52-40 at the 3:52 mark. Hershman hit a three-pointer and Hill converted a jumper to complete the extended run of 35-7 and give the visitors a commanding 12-point lead.

“In the first half, they (Attleboro) were getting to every 50-50 ball,” said Vaughan. “They wanted it more than us. In the second half even when they got the 50-50 balls we were making them work much harder. We also did a better job contesting their shots. For us, the game came down in the second half to the guys doing a better job contesting shots, getting to the 50-50 balls and sticking to our game plan.”

A three-pointer by Robitaille and two free throws by junior guard Chris Walsh closed the gap to seven at 52-45 with 2:54 left. But Mansfield scored the next four points to put the game away at 56-45 with 42.6 seconds remaining. Hill had a basket during this final run with Hershman and Lofton contributing free throws.

“Things started falling apart in the second half,” said Attleboro head coach Mark Houle. “We broke down defensively and were giving them easy baskets. They are a good, quality team and once they got the momentum it was hard for us to get it back. They just kept coming at us.”

The game got off to a terrific start for Attleboro. After had scored five straight points in the first to close within 11-10, the Bombardiers scored the final nine points of the period to take a 10-point lead after one, 20-10. Nasso led Attleboro in the first with eight points, while Edmonds scored all seven of his points in the game in that session.

“Match-up wise, (Attleboro) presents a lot of problems for us,” said Vaughan. “They have a lot of great athletes on that team and our energy was lacking in the first half.”

A three-pointer by Robitaille gave Attleboro an 11-point advantage at 23-12 with 6:20 remaining in the first half. After Gracia hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to nine at 26-17, the Bombardiers scored the next seven points to take their largest lead of the night at 33-17 with 3:40 left. Nasso began this surge by tipping in a missed free throw by senior guard Mahlik Johnson, while Robitaille hit a three and Silva had a basket.

“We had good defensive purpose in the first half,” said Houle. “We made them work for every shot and had a good flow going. We were getting good transition baskets. We were up by 16 points, but they are a good team. We knew they would come back. They stayed aggressive, cut the lead to nine at the half and got the momentum. But when a team has to come back from a large deficit like that they usually have to use up a lot of their energy. When that happened we figured we would put a run together, but that run never came.”

It will be an exciting night at the James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium on Friday. The will host Franklin at 6 p.m. in a showdown for first place in the Hockomock League Large School Division. The Hornet and Panther boys will then battle for supremacy in their division at 7:30 p.m.