“Hard fought win tonight,” said Wellsboro Head Coach Ron Doughtie following the game, “Mansfield made us earn it and you have to applaud the way they played.”

The Hornets took a 13-10 lead after a quarter of play behind six points from Jonathan Carl and four from Luke Rothermel. 

Balanced scoring in the second frame from the Hornets .. two points each from Rothermel, Carl, Colin Fletcher, Griffin Morral and James Doughtie .. resulted in a 10-9 quarter for Wellsboro and a 23-19 halftime lead. 

A low-scoring third quarter put Wellsboro up 30-24 as they headed to the fourth.

Andy Hermansen hit a three for NPM to make it 30-27 Wellsboro before Carl scored inside and Kevin Clemente-Vazquez hit a three for the Tigers to make it 32-30.

The teams traded free throws and Patrick Youmans scored inside for the Tigers to tie the game up at 33-all with 5:50 left in the game.

After a Rothermel jumper broke the tie for Wellsboro, Hermansen drilled a three to give the Tigers a 36-35 lead with under five minutes remaining.

A Fletcher free throw tied it up again before Harer gave NPM the lead back at 38-36 with a finish at the rim. Wellsboro then went on an 8-0 run .. on a Fletcher runner, a Carl bucket, two free throws from Fletcher and a pair from Rothermel .. to go up 44-38 with 50 seconds left.

Harer and Hermansen each scored inside for the Tigers to cut Wellsboro’s lead to 44-42 with 26 seconds left, but the Hornets got 1-of-2 free throws from Ethan Keane and held Mansfield off to seal the win.

Fletcher led the Hornets with 14 points while Rothermel and Carl each recorded a double-double. Carl scored 12 points and had 16 rebounds and added two blocked shots and Rothermel had 10 points and 10 boards and handed out four assists. 

Morral had four points and three steals, Doughtie and Mascho had two points each and Keane had one point.

“Really proud of the effort from everyone on our team,” said Coach Doughtie, “We got nice, balanced scoring and played some good team defense at times. The effort on the boards was excellent .. especially from Jonathan (Carl) and Luke (Rothermel).”

Hermansen led North Penn-Mansfield with 17 points and added six assists while Harer had 13 points and 12 rebounds, Youmans had nine points and Clemente-Vazquez had three points.

The loss brings the Tigers’ season to an end with a 12-11 record. 

Wellsboro, now 12-11, advances to the quarterfinals of the 3A bracket where they’ll face No. 1 seed Warrior Run in Turbotville on Thursday at 7 p.m.