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Sports

Late Surge Propels Mansfield Boys Basketball To Victory Over Attleboro

Bombardiers fall to Hornets for second time this winter with road loss on Friday night.

In a game full of scoring runs, the Mansfield High boys’ basketball team needed one last surge to finally put away Attleboro, 54-44, in a Hockomock League Large School Division game on Friday night at a raucous James Albertini Memorial Gymnasium.

The win was the 12 straight for the Hornets, who improved to 16-2 overall, 12-0 in the league and 7-0 in the division.

After clinching at least a share of the division crown last Sunday against North Attleboro at the Albertini Gymnasium, Mansfield officially won the outright Large School Division championship when King Philip upset Franklin on Monday night.

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But the Hornets would not consider themselves division champions unless they won it on the floor, meaning they had to beat the Bombardiers on Friday night.

And following the victory, the team pulled out a ladder and the players cut down one of the nets to commemorate the achievement.

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Mansfield had to wait 50 years before winning its first league championship last winter and captured its second straight league crown this week, this one the inaugural Large School Division championship.

“The kids did not want to do it on Sunday after we clinched a tie,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan, referring to his team not wanting to cut down the net after beating North Attleboro last Sunday. “They wanted to wait until they clinched it outright with a win on the court, which they were able to do tonight against Attleboro.

“It took 50 years to get our first championship," he added. "And for us to be one win away from going undefeated in this league is remarkable.”

With the loss, a very talented Attleboro team dropped to 13-4 overall, 8-4 in the league and 3-4 in the division. Two of the four losses the Bombardiers have suffered this winter have come to Mansfield. The other two defeats came to Franklin and North Attleboro.

Attleboro will complete its league slate with a trip to Wrentham for a Large School Division game against King Philip next Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Senior captain and guard Nate Robitaille led the Bombardiers with 22 points, including 14 in the second half. Senior forward Kebba Nasso also scored 11 points. The duo combined for 33 of their team’s 44 points on the night.

After a 14-0 run by Attleboro turned a 10-point deficit (37-27) into a four-point lead (41-37), Mansfield used a 17-3 game-ending surge, including a run of 14 consecutive points, to take control of the game in the fourth quarter.

Attleboro finished the quarter on a 6-0 surge to cut the gap to four at 37-33 after three quarters. Robitaille sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a thunderous dunk by Nasso to account for all six points during the run.

The Bombardiers would extend their impressive run to 14 consecutive points by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter. Two free throws by Nasso was followed by a pair of three pointers by Robitaille (eight third-quarter points), which gave the visitors a four-point advantage at 41-37 with 5:18 left in the game.

“Our defense really stepped up during that run,” Attleboro head coach Mark Houle said. "It was a nice run, but we could have extended our lead to six or eight points, but we had a couple of turnovers. We did not finish our plays and it gave them time to recoup.”

And the Hornets responded in a huge way, scoring the next 14 points to take the lead for good at 51-41 with 53 seconds left. A three-pointer by Gracia at the 5:05 mark got the game-winning surge started and then Gracia followed with a pair of free throws, which put Mansfield ahead to stay at 42-41 with 4:18 left.

A three-pointer by Robitaille finally put a halt to the surge with 39.9 seconds remaining to make it 51-44, but one free throw by Hill and two more by Hershman completed the game-ending 17-3 run for the Hornets.

“Mansfield finished their plays tonight,” Houle said. “That was the difference. Their defense did not allow us to get any baskets down the stretch. We were not able to establish our offense late in the game.”

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