Stat Stuffers: Tygers put up key numbers in Division II sectional semifinal win over Ontario

MANSFIELD — Numbers never lie.

On Tuesday night, they told the whole story of Mansfield Senior's 81-46 Division II sectional semifinal win over Ontario at Pete Henry Gymnasium. The Tygers dominated every statistical category on their way to a tournament-opening win and ended up putting up a running-clock performance against their cross town rival.

Let's take a deeper dive into those numbers.

20: Number of offensive rebounds for the Tygers (17-6). To put that in perspective, Ontario had 17 total rebounds and only five on the offensive end. The Tygers pulled down 42 total rebounds and turned those 20 offensive boards into 21 second-chance points and 26 points in the paint. Mansfield Senior missed just 29 shots on the night and rebounded 20 of them. It was a completely dominant performance on the glass and something the Tygers thought they could take advantage of.

"That is something we worked on over the last week and into this week," Mansfield Senior coach Marquis Sykes said. "We thought it could be an advantage for us and we placed a high emphasis on it in practice. Our guys came out and executed."

Duke Reese and Kyevi Roane had seven rebounds apiece while Ny Petty grabbed six. Petty had four on the offensive end.

"We talked about their size and how they matched up well, so we knew we had to crash the boards," Mansfield Senior junior Kyevi Roane said. "We sent four to to glass and sent one back, and it worked out well for us."

3: Number of double-digit scorers for the Tygers. Roane led the way with 24 points, Rashad Reed Jr. had a great game with 15 and Reese had 10. Reed nailed six 3-pointers while Roane was 11-for-17 from the field, doing all of his damage from close range. The Tygers shot 58.2% from the field thanks to leak-out layups and wide-open shot attempts from 3.

The Tygers scored 24 points in the first quarter and 19 more in the second as they sprinted out to a 43-30 lead at the half. The pace of play perfectly fit the Tygers.

"That is what we want to do and what we are used to doing," Sykes said. "We enjoyed playing that style and our guys were chomping at the bit because they knew it would be a fast-paced game after going through some grinders in our conference."

Ontario (6-17) battled right along in the first half, keeping things within reach before faltering late. Grayson Purvis had 18 points while Brady Zehe added 14 for solid performances. But in the end, the Tygers' speed and athleticism were too much.

"We couldn't let them play faster than us," Roane said. "We had to keep up with their pace on offense and defense. But we practice and play fast and when we play a game like this, it is in our favor."

15-0: The scoring advantage for the Tygers in the fourth quarter. Mansfield Senior shut out the Warriors over the final eight minutes with the last 2:31 being under a running clock thanks to a 35-point deficit. Still, the shutout was impressive as the Tygers pulled their starters with more than half of the fourth quarter remaining.

"I didn't realize it as it was happening, but I feel like we kind of wore them down," Sykes said. "We put a high emphasis on our conditioning and getting up and down the court. We were also able to play everyone tonight, so we had confidence and fresh legs."

All 12 Tygers put up four minutes or more of playing time so they kept rotating in guys to keep the defensive pressure up. They forced 17 turnovers as a team and scored 17 points off of those turnovers.

"I didn't know it at the time," Roane said of the shutout. "We went into halftime determined to stop them from scoring as much as they did in the first half. We knew we had to get stops."

The Tygers outscored Ontario 38-16 in the second half.

17: Number of assists handed out by the Tygers on 36 made baskets compared to just seven assists for Ontario on 17 made baskets. Senior Ja'Ontay O'Bryant was doing his best to record a triple-double. He had five points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals as he ran a high-powered offense at point guard.

Reese and DJ Corbin, who had a pair of dunks with eight points, handed out three assists apiece. With the way the Tygers shared the ball, they will be tough to beat on Friday night when they head to No. 4 seed Bellevue for a 7 p.m. sectional championship game. Mansfield Senior is the No. 5 seed but should hardly be believed to be underdogs.

"We do," Sykes said. "We consider ourselves underdogs. They are the higher seed, we are going on the road and playing against a really well-coached team that plays a different style. It will be different and give us some things we have to work on stylistically that they bring to the table."

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Senior beat Ontario in Division II sectional semfiinals