Lucas digs out high atmospheric win over Mansfield Christian in MBC boys basketball showdown

In a matchup between the two top teams in the Mid-Buckeye Conference, Lucas delivered a hard-fought 71-66 road win over Mansfield Christian Tuesday night.

The Cubs took the outright MBC lead with a 7-0 conference record, while the Flames fell to 4-1 in league play.

Here's what we learned:

Mansfield Christian-Lucas lived up to expectations

Going into Tuesday night's game, Lucas and Mansfield Christian were easily the top two teams in the MBC, each with a 9-3 overall record. They also both were undefeated in conference play, with Lucas 6-0 and Mansfield Christian 4-0. On the line was the outright first-place lead in the MBC.

Basically, to sum it up, this was a measuring stick kind of game. A barometer test for both.

The stands were full. Each fanbase came to cheer. The student sections played their parts. The game was filled with intensity. It was physical. The referees got out of the way and let the players play for the most part. Emotions ran high from each coaching sideline. The players brought it and it was the type of game and atmosphere that makes prep sports fun to cover and watch.

"The atmosphere was great," said Lucas' Andrew Smollen. "You look up in the stands and there's not a open seat. The fans are real into it. Both teams are undefeated in the conference. Both teams are 9-3. Both teams are local. It's a 10-minute drive from Lucas. We had a lot of fans come here from Lucas. Just the big-game hype. That's why you play high school sports in gyms like this."

And, on top of that, the game was high-quality stuff.

It was end-to-end action in certain stretches. One minute it was Mansfield Christian's Amarr Davis (18 points) working on the mid-post and making a turnaround shot over a defender tight on him. Then it was Lucas' Corbin Toms (10 points) getting the ball out quickly and pushing the pace and finding teammate Zach Diehl (six points) for a layup. Or it was Flames point guard Davis Wushinske (10 points) warding off ball pressure and making his way to the basket, where he kicked out to Brock Rentzel (12 points), who hit his share of 3-pointers. The next minute it was Lucas' Logan Toms (14 points) receiving the ball at the high post, where he made a quick read and pass to Aidan Culler (26 points), who was a physical inside presence all night.

Especially in the second half when things got tighter and tighter, both teams had a three-minute period in which they were trading baskets, much to the crowd's delight.

What about winning this type of game?

"Huge," Smollen said. "Both teams are undefeated in the conference and [this] puts us one game ahead. We still have to finish the deal because we have to play them a second time. Obviously, we wanna blow a team out but that's no fun. These are the ones that are worth it."

The complexion of the game changed when the Flames' Amarr Davis fouled out

Mansfield Christian and Lucas played pretty evenly in the first quarter. In the second quarter, it was the Flames' stingy 1-2-2 half-court defense against the Cubs' read-and-react offense. Mansfield Christian closed down the middle and made driving lanes difficult for Lucas, which didn't get many good looks facing it. Lucas stayed patient — maybe even too patient at times — as it seemed to be seeking the best possible shot when there were some outside shots available to it.

On the other end, Mansfield Christian's Davis was accelerating by defenders and scoring at the rim consistently, even collecting steals in passing lanes that resulted in easy points. Even though Lucas made a run toward the end of the first half, Mansfield Christian got the better of the action — leading by double-digits at one point — heading into halftime.

However the game got turned on its head when Davis, the Flames' star player, fouled out with 18 points with 3:18 in the third quarter with the home team up 41-34. Without Davis — the Flames' primary scorer and someone who shares ball-handling duties with Wushinske — the Cubs upped their full-court ball pressure, especially against Wushinske, who they tried double-teaming at times to make other Flames players beat them.

It worked for the most part and was one of the main reasons why the Cubs got back into the game.

"The officiating was a little questionable," said Lucas coach Taylor Iceman. "They called a lot of fouls tonight both ways. We didn't play very good. We were fortunate. I hate to see Amarr end up on the bench like that. I'd rather have him out playing. He's their best player. You have to pay a lot of attention to him when he's on the floor. We were able to relax and get back to the regular pressure defense we do."

"That's huge," said Mansfield Christian coach Cary Craner, on losing Davis in the third quarter. "Obviously, they don't have to worry about him on the floor. They can play more of a man-to-man. They don't have to bring two guys to guard him. So, that's huge in itself. Yes, he's a scorer but he also takes pressure off other guys because they have to know where he's at at all times. It's huge not having him on the floor. I thought the other guys did well but when you lose Amarr, the other guys really need to step up."

Sharing the ball helped Lucas break the game open

Even going into the fourth quarter down six points, you could tell that the game was shifting in the Cubs' direction.

It was their knack for driving and kicking, which was usually started by Corbin Toms. Or it was his brother Logan receiving the ball at the high post and finding Smollen for a number of corner 3s he drilled. Or it was driving and making dump passes that usually ended up being finishes by Culler. The Cubs were able to stretch the Flames' 1-2-2 defense with reactive ball movement and it typically turned into baskets and that broke the game open in favor of the away team.

"Yeah, the ball was moving around the perimeter," Smollen said, who finished with 14 points. "We just had to slow it down and do what Coach Iceman wanted. We had to get the defense tired and get them moving. That's where we got the open looks. We were getting a lot of inside-out. We went from swinging on the perimeter to driving and kicking out, then finishing inside. It was keeping the ball moving."

"We made that run at the end of the first half to get ourselves back into it," Iceman said. "There was a lot of adversity. We could have just mailed it in and said it's not our night, but our kids did fight back, showed a lot of heart to make it a game. We missed a lot of free throws tonight. For whatever reason whenever we come over here, we never shoot the ball that well but we made enough plays. I'm not real happy the way the game went but ultimately we got a win and gave them their first loss in the league, which is big."

"We didn't lose the tournament. We still got plenty of the season to go," Craner said. "We gotta get better. We get to see them in a couple of weeks."

Mark Friday, Feb. 3, at Lucas on your calendars for Round Two. Expect another toe-to-toe encounter.

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lucas digs out high atmospheric win over Mansfield Christian