NTL BOYS BASKETBALL: ATHENS TAKES DOWN NORTH PENN-MANSFIELD, 65-56 (2021-02-26)

Valley Sports Report
MANSFIELD "” Athens used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to take the lead for good on its way to a 65-56 win over North Penn-Mansfield here Friday night in NTL boys basketball action.

Sophomore Mason Lister's 3-pointer in the opening minute of the game gave Athens its only lead of the first quarter, at 3-2.

NP-M took its biggest lead of the game at 12-7 with 55 seconds remaining in the opening stanza, but 3-pointers by junior Tucker Brown and Lister, sandwiched around a bucket by NP-M's Alex Stein, trimmed the deficit to 14-13 after the first eight minutes.

Junior Nalen Carling scored on a putback on the offensive glass in the opening seconds of the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 15-14 lead, but NP-M answered with a 7-2 spurt tot are a 21-17 lead.

Buckets by Brown and junior Troy Pritchard, off a feed from Brown, tied the score at 21-21, but a 3-pointer by Karson Dominick put the Tigers back up 24-21.

Moments later, Lister drained a pair of free throws to trigger an 11-0 run that put the Wildcats up 32-24. Carling, Brown, Lister and Pritchard each contributed buckets in the run.

NP-M trimmed the deficit to 32-30 early in the third quarter on an old-fashioned three-point play by Dominick, and eventually pulled ahead 36-34 on a 3-pointer by Dominick.

After free throws by junior J.J. Babcock and Brown knotted score at 36-36, sophomore Chris Mitchell, Carling, Brown, and Lister scored buckets in a 70-second span to put the Wildcats ahead to stay, 44-36.

The Tigers pulled to within five, at 44-39, on a 3-pointer by Sam Lawrence, and again, at 48-43, on a bucket by Stein to close out the third quarter, but the Wildcats opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 spurt, powered by six points from Babcock, to take a 56-45 lead.

NP-M closed the gap to seven, at 63-56, in the final minute, but Brown made a pair of free throws to provide the final margin.

Brown led a balanced Athens attack with 16 points, five assists and three rebounds, while Lister had 15 points, six assists, three rebounds, and three steals, Carling had 13 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocked shots, and Babcock added 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Pritchard had four points and three boards for the Wildcats, and Mitchell chipped in with four points.

Dominick, a freshman, led NP-M with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, while Stein scored 17, and Curtis Craig and Lawrence added eight points apiece.

Athens, now 13-8, closes out the regular season Saturday at Loyalsock.

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IN PHOTO: Athens junior Tucker Brown. ... VSR STOCK PHOTO.