Mansfield Kicks Offense Into Gear to Beat Attleboro

 
 
 ATTLEBORO, Mass. — When the Mansfield boys basketball team is moving the ball around, constantly cutting, slashing to the basket, and knocking down shots from beyond the arc at a high clip, it’s like a work of art on the hardwood.

Attleboro learned that first hand on Friday night as the Hornets played a nearly perfect third quarter, turning a two-possession game at halftime into a runaway 69-50 win over the Bombardiers.

Mansfield held a 36-30 lead coming out of the locker room for the second half, and then went on to miss just one shot on 10 attempts from the field over the next eight minutes. The result was a 13-4 burst over the first four minutes and a 22-9 quarter overall to pull ahead for good.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Of Mansfield’s nine makes in the third, four came from three-point territory. Jack Lasbury-Casey (12 points) hit half of his four three’s in the frame, Chris Hill (seven points, six rebounds) connected from deep on the first play of the period, and senior Andrew Slaney (career-high 17 points) had one of his team-high five trifectas.

A week after attempting a total of 10 threes in a loss to Taunton, Mansfield surpassed that number on makes against the Bombardiers, shooting 50% from beyond the arc with a season-high 11 three-pointers.

“I was really happy with how our offense flowed today, I thought it was back to before Christmas where it looked like we knew what we were doing on offense,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan. “We hit some timely shots and we got some key stops when we needed to get some separation. We needed a game like this where we shot the ball well because we really haven’t the last couple of weeks.

“We needed a run to get some separation. We needed to get some consistent stops and then we’d have to go down and have a couple good offensive possessions.”

Hill’s three got things started for the Hornets in the third and then Anthony Sachetti recorded one of his four assists to Lasbury-Casey for another triple. Sachetti then converted a steal into a layup, Hill scored off an inbounds set, and then sophomore Trevor Foley (10 points, six rebounds) found Slaney in the corner for a three and a 49-34 lead with 3:30 left in the quarter.

Not only was Mansfield finding success on the offensive end, the Hornets weren’t giving Attleboro any open looks on the defensive end. Hill had a block early, and the Hornets only let the Bombardiers get a single point out of offensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions. Attleboro ended up making just a pair of field goals in the frame despite four second-chance opportunities.

“It’s not anything we’re doing specifically but subconsciously, defense becomes easier when you’re playing well on offense,” Vaughan said of getting it done on both ends of the floor. “When you start scoring points and you start getting that separation, the lead going from six to eight to 10…it becomes easier to defend. Now you can take some chances, you can try some different things.”

Lasbury-Casey answered a putback from Attleboro sophomore Neo Franco (10 points) with another three and then after a block from Matt Hyland (14 points, seven rebounds, six assists), Foley attacked the rim for two more. Lasbury-Casey got a piece of another Attleboro shot and Hill had a steal near midcourt, resulting in another layup for Foley, who had six of his 10 points in the frame and Mansfield carried a 59-39 lead into the fourth.

Mansfield set the tone for its big shooting night in the opening quarter, hitting on six trifectas on nine attempts. Attleboro junior Trevor White, fresh off a 31-point performance on Tuesday, hit a midrange jumper for the first points of the game but exited shortly after with an injury and did not return.

Slaney hit from downtown on three straight possessions for the Hornets, the first and third off passes from Hyland, and the middle on a kick out from Sachetti. Lasbury-Casey and Attleboro senior Evan Houle (nine points) traded threes, and then Hill and Attleboro senior Alvin Harrison (team-high 12 points) did the same.

After another one from Lasbury-Casey, sophomore Eddie McCoy joined the three party with one of his own and then Foley cleaned up his own miss for a 22-15 lead after a quarter.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Attleboro held the Hornets without a three in the second quarter (0-for-4), and won the quarter, albeit by one point. Both teams made it to the bonus relatively quickly and ended up combining for 24 of the 25 free throws attempted in the first half. The Bombardiers got a boost from their bench as senior Colin Morais scored six of his 11 points in the frame and senior Hayden Hagerty hit four free throws to cut it to six, 36-30, by the break.

“It’s just how the game flowed,” Vaughan said of his team’s shooting. “We’ve really been focusing on taking open shots in practice and making them. We shot the ball so poorly recently, and we haven’t even got the volume either. We’re usually taking 25 or so a game and we were shooting 13 or 11 or nine, and that’s not us. We have to open the floor for guys like Matty and Chris to get downhill. And on top of that, we have the right guys shooting them.”

Mansfield boys basketball (9-1 Hockomock, 11-2 overall) is scheduled to travel to Bridgewater-Raynham on Monday while Attleboro (7-3, 9-3) is scheduled to travel to Bishop Feehan on Sunday, weather permitting.