Mansfield Boys' Basketball Advance to Semifinals, Beat Franklin 57-48

To use a classic metaphor, No 1 Mansfield’s tournament match against the No. 9 Franklin Panthers was like watching two heavyweights in a slugfest. With Mansfield holding the largest lead in regulation at five points, anytime one team was able to get a slight advantage, it was short lived as no lead was safe in this game.

With almost every basket contested and challenged, the Hornets toughed out a 57-48 overtime win over the Franklin Panthers.

The win sends the Hornets to the semifinal round of the MIAA Divison 1 South Boys' Basketball Tournament.

DeAndrade Takes Control

Down by three after three big free throws from Sam Bohmiller with 1:50 to play in regulation, two huge baskets from Rocky DeAndrade (21 points) turned the deficit into a one point lead. A 15 foot jumper cut the lead to one and then a fake in the low post followed by a layup gave the Hornets a 46-45 lead with 50 seconds to play.

“He’s been so steady all year, just making big plays. The last two games he’s carried this team in terms of big baskets,” Mansfield head coach Michael Vaughan said.

The junior guard put some separation between the two teams at the right time as a three pointer with under a minute to play in overtime put the Hornets up by six.

Struggling to hit threes all day and with Brendan Hill (9 points) heavily guarded by Bohmiller, DeAndrade decided to take the outside shot after his defender backed off, giving him the extra space to attempt the shot. The basket, along with a defense that only allowed two points from the Panthers in the extra period, all but locked up a Hornets win.

Bohmiller Deadly From the Outside

Of the 19 points scored by Franklin’s Sam Bohmiller, 15 were from the field from five three pointers. With the Hornets up by five with about a minute to play in the first half, Bohmiller’s second three pointer of the game cut the lead to two and helped the Panthers go into the half tied 22-22.

“We know he’s (Bohmiller) going to score but we wanted to make him work for everything. I think tonight we did a pretty good job, especially as the game went on," Vaughan said.

Later in the third, the Franklin senior tied the game twice from the outside at 29-29 and 32-32.

With Mansfield working and guarding Bohmiller heavily, the senior had a chance to win the game with six seconds left in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find the basket on the midrange jumper. The miss did lead to a Pat O’Reilly rebound and foul. At the line, O’Reilly went 1/2 to force the game into overtime.

Defending the Mansfield Three Pointer

One of the Hornets main weapons during the season was missing against the Panthers as Mansfield could only find the basket from beyond the arch twice.

“We tried to keep the ball on one side of the court and not let them reverse it, shrink the court into a half and play one side of it,” Franklin head coach Dean O’Connor said.

Aside from DeAndrade’s critical three pointer at the end of overtime, Ryan Boulter’s three pointer with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter represented Mansfield’s outside shooting for the game.

The Hornets however, are looking at the result as a sign that they can still produce even when everything isn’t going their way.

“It proves we can really win games if we don’t hit the three, we just need to be able to stay composed, find the best shot, play defense, grind out our possession,” DeAndrade said.

The tight defense around the three point line ended up opening more opportunities down low as the Hornets patiently worked the ball until chances for high percentage shots opened.

“The way they (Franklin) were playing the three point line, we were able to actually screen like slip and curl, we were able to get inside baskets,” DeAndrade said. 

Who’s Next?

The Hornets will play Brookline in the semifinal round of the MIAA Division 1 South Boys’ Basketball Tournament on March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at UMass Boston.