Mario Young drops 48 points in Tygers 84-77 win

As he walked back to the locker room after a radio interview, it still hadn't hit Mario Young. In his last game inside the Pete Henry Gymnasium as a Mansfield Senior Tyger, Young set the gym single-game scoring record with 48 points and helped the Tygers pull off an 84-77 comeback win over Olentangy on Saturday night.

"All my shots were falling tonight," Young said. "It's like I had to leave it all out for my last game."

Young's offensive explosion kicked off in the last minute of the second quarter, where he dropped nine unanswered points including a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer. But the Tygers were shooting just 38.7 percent in the half  and were being outpaced by the Braves' transitional offense and near-perfect 3-point shooting (3-for-4 in the half).

"We had no spirit," Mansfield coach JT Reese said. "Which is ironic because that's all you're really supposed to have on a Senior Night."

Reese said he told his players during halftime that they needed to pick up the energy, but the message didn't kick in until he was forced to call a timeout 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the third quarter, after the Braves started the half with a 13-5 run.

"When you don't play with energy and effort, sometimes shots don't go in," Reese said. "And then vice-versa. When you do play with energy and effort, you get a guy with 48 points."

From that point on the Tygers gradually clawed their way back into the game thanks to Young's 28 points in the second half. After tying the game 60-60 with a jumpshot, Young stole an inbound pass off the hands of Olentangy's Sean O'Neil, then drove down the court for a layup to give the Tygers their first (and only) lead of the night with four minutes left in the game.

"I'm glad basketball is a two-half game," Reese said. "Mario (Young) was incredible. His spirit, more so than his points, helped us to the victory tonight."

Mansfield Senior (13-7. 10-3 OCC) travels to Lexington (19-2, 11-2 OCC) next week for their final Ohio Cardinal Conference game of the season. A win would give the Tygers a share of the conference championship.