Whippets stage comeback to defeat rival Mansfield Tygers, advance in tournament
ONTARIO – Shelby boys basketball kept their season alive with an epic 60-55 comeback victory over Mansfield Senior in a Division 2 district semifinal clash Thursday night in Ontario.
The Whippets plagued by foul trouble throughout the game, battled back from an eight-point halftime deficit to win and move to 22-2 on the season.
With All-ohioan Alex Bruskotter in foul trouble the entire game, the Whippets used their depth to beat the physical Tygers and get a rematch with Lexington in a district final matchup that features the state’s second and thirdranked teams in Division 2.
The Shelby/lexington matchup features the top two teams in the district. The game will be played Saturday at Ontario High School, with tipoff at 6 p.m.
Once again, sixth-man extraordinaire Karsen Homan was a key contributor in the Whippets victory.
The 6 foot 4 junior, who also picked up three fouls in the first half, scored 13 points (5-7 from the field), grabbed seven boards, and gave two assists and a steal in his 17 minutes on the court.
“I just love playing basketball with these guys, Homan said. “The reason I played basketball this year was to be part of this team and be around the guys.”
“I knew I wasn’t going to be the most skilled guy on the court but I could control my effort, energy on the court. If I could help these guys in the court, that was the perfect job for me” said a well-spoken Homan.
Shelby coach Greg Gallaway spoke about Homan. “Homey has been awesome for us all year,” Gallaway said. “He is a guy who any coach wants on their team. He loves his role and embraces it. He gives us that consistent energy and effort every single second on the floor, and it is contagious to his teammates.” The Whippets were getting outmuscled in the first half, especially rebounding. Mansfield Senior hauled down 25 first-half rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds, and the Tygers controlled the game at that point, going into intermission with a 29-21 lead.
“Our key in the second half was to rebound better as a team,” Gallaway said. “We challenged all five guys to box out. That was the difference. I thought we handled the ball a lot better in the second half and went back to what we’ve been doing all year.”
“I thought we did a great job controlling the ball in the second half. We only had nine turnovers in the game, which is great against an aggressive team like Senior,” Gallaway said.
The Whippets cut the Senior lead to 42-38 after they outscored Mansfield 9-5 in the final two minutes of the third to set up the crazy final quarter.
Shelby tied the game, the first tie since the opening tip, after Bruskotter scored on a runner with 6:46 left in the contest.
After a Tyger bucket, Issaiah Ramsey knocked in four straight free throws to give Shelby their first lead of the game (46-45) with 5:17 remaining.
Homan then scored on a layup off a nice pass from Bruskotter and Bryson Baker drained two free throws to give Shelby a 50-45 lead with 4:27 left in the game.
The Tygers quickly responded by hitting a three-pointer and layup to knot the score at 50 with 2:46 showing in the fourth quarter clock.
Following a Shelby timeout, Homan, Ramsey and Casey Lantz all hit buckets to give Shelby a 56-50 lead with a little over a minute left.
Bruskotter then fouled out, and the Tygers hit both free throws to cut the lead to 56-62. After Shelby missed a shot, Senior again was fouled and hit another free throw to cut the Shelby lead to 56-63 with 27 seconds remaining.
The Whippets then ran 11 seconds off the clock before Homan was fouled. Homan split the pair of free throws to make it 57-53.
The Whippets (with only 3 team fouls) then forced the Tygers to take ten seconds off the clock before Shelby smartly fouled Mansfield, forcing the Tygers to call a timeout with six seconds left, still trailing by four.
Senior hit a jumper with 2.2 seconds left in the game. Ramsey was then fouled and calmly sank both free throws to extend the Whippet lead to 59-55, sealing the victory for Shelby.
Ramsey led the Whippets in scoring with 15, drilled three pressure free throws to seal the game and was tasked with bringing the ball up the court in Bruskotter’s absence.
“Every single day in practice, we do pressure free throws and shoot them when we are tired,” Ramsey said. “It shows that practice pays off.”
Gallaway summed up the contest.
“It was a great game with two great teams,” he said. “We knew coming in tonight that two really good teams would go home, and two would get to play Saturday. I’m really proud of our guys for stepping up in the moments and making the plays.”
In addition to leading Whippets with his 15 points, Ramsey also grabbed seven rebounds and handed out three steals.
Homan scored 13, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Lantz knocked down 12, four of those on two thunderous dunks. Lantz pulled down three rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and a block.
Bruskotter scored 11 and handed out four assists. Baker scored 5, had 3 assists and 2 blocks. Brayden Devito scored 4.