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Lions battle adversity then crush Houston to take third

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When the Mansfield Lions entered their own tournament last week, they faced major adversity missing three players from their line-up.

This caused head coach Cody Shelton to remind the remaining players the need for them to step up and make the most of their opportunities if the team was going to end the week with some hardware.

His players responded to the challenge by winning two of the three games to earn the third place trophy.

In the third place game against Houston, the Lions took it to the Tigers from the early going and never looked back in a dominating 57-35 victory..

“I thought we distributed well and did great running the offense,” said Mansfield head coach Cody Shelton.

Houston led 10-7 early in the first quarter before the Lions completely took over the game with a 22-0 run.

That run was helped by three London Dennis 3-pointers in the first half. They ended up finishing the half with a 32-7 run to open up a 20-point lead on the Tigers.

As Houston had two players go off the court with injuries in the second half, the Lions cruised their way to a 27-point win.

Campbell, who earned a spot on the All-Tournament team this week, scored 17 points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.

Dennis finished with nine points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal; Chase Cartwright had 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and one steal; Chase Kelley added nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals; Stone Sawyers added 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals; Kaden Coble had one point and two rebounds; and Carter Garrison added two assists.

In the semifinals, the Lions lost to rival Norwood, 55-30.

Mansfield kept the game close early as both Dennis and Cartwright scored four points in the opening frame.

Norwood was up 12-8 behind Garrett Davault’s two first quarter dunks. He added three more in the second to pace the Pirates to a 29-13 halftime edge.

Cartwright sparked a 6-0 run in the third quarter with two buckets, but that was as close as Mansfield would get in the 25-point loss.

Cartwright finished with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.

Dennis had eight points, six rebounds and one assist; Campbell had six points, one rebound and one steal; Cable had three points, one rebound and one steal; Kelley scored two points, four rebounds, one block and one steal; and Ashton Pierson had one point.

Sawyers added two rebounds, two assists and one steal.

In the first round, a new Lions’ line-up without some of their players pulled out a 52-40 win over Plato.

Dennis hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter to set the tone as the Lions led 20-12.

Mansfield would go on to outscore Plato, 32-28, the rest of the way in a 12-point win.

Dennis finished with 13 points, but Campbell led the way with 20 points.

Both Cartwright and Kelley added seven points while Sawyers had five points.