Mansfield Lions’ season ends in districts

With three of the Top-10 teams in Class 2 participating in the same District 10 tournament, at least two good teams were going to go home.
Unfortunately, one of those teams was the Mansfield Lions as they saw their season come to an end after falling to rival Norwood, 62-56, in overtime.
The loss ended a memorable season with a 21-7 record that featured a state-ranked campaign that also included them winning the Mansfield tournament and Sparta tournament championships.
“To see the growth both individually and as a team in skill, knowledge, and maturity made me extremely proud of this group” said Mansfield head coach Craig Campbell.
“The season didn’t end with the storybook ending we hoped for, but the boys played their hearts out every night for each other, and that’s something no scoreboard can show. Expectations will continue to grow going into next year with the guys returning from this year’s group”
The loss meant it was also the final game for Mansfield seniors Malachi Ussery, Haven Proetz and Fisher Croney.
“The three seniors had great careers, and grew throughout their high school careers to help set the tone and expectations for next year’s group as well as future generations of Mansfield Lions,” Coach Campbell said. “They will be missed in the program and I loved coaching them the last three years.”
In the first round, the Lions’ defense held Summersville to eight points or less in three different quarters for a 69-31 victory.
The Lions jumped out to a 17-6 first quarter lead as Proetz scored eight points and Croney had five.
In the second quarter, six different Lions scored to help push the lead to 16 at halftime on Mansfield’s home court as they hosted districts.
They ran away in the third quarter as they had a 23-5 run with the help of five, 3-pointers.
Proetz made three of them and scored 11 points. Easton Thompson hit a pair of 3-poitners in the fourth quarter to help seal the big win.
Proetz scored a team-high 23 points; Croney had 11; Kellen Campbell and Kaden Young scored nine points; both Thompson and Ussery had six; and Cole Whorton had five points.
(Information from the Norwood game appears in the Pirates’ article.)