After a back-and-forth first half, the Tigers came out of the locker rooms with a 31-28 lead and got a pair of Brady Stetter buckets sandwiched around a Mountie score by Luke Kreger to go up 35-30. 

Louis Mercantino drained a 3-pointer for NPL to cut the deficit to 2 points with 5:29 left in the third quarter, followed by the first of two shutout runs by the Tigers. 

Cooper Shaw scored 8 straight points in a minute and a half to give NPM a 10-point lead and after Liberty’s Brody Grinnell hit a jumper from the free throw line, a three from Mansfield’s Tayton Strange and a bucket by Kreger cut Mansfield’s lead to 9, the Tigers went on another run. 

Shaw scored inside, followed by an Alex Davis basket, then hit a three that was followed by a Davis reverse with 1:17 left in the third to give the Tigers a 55-37 lead. Jason Harer made it a 20-point lead with a score before Kreger stopped the run with a bucket with 30 seconds remaining. Harer hit 1-of-2 free throws before the end of the quarter to leave Mansfield’s advantage at 58-39. 

Davis finished with a game-high 20 points to lead North Penn-Mansfield and added 7 assists while Shaw collected a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Harer just missed with 19 points and 9 boards. Strange added 7 points, Stetter scored 6 points and grabbed 9 rebounds and Andy Hermansen added 5 points and 7 assists for the Tigers. 

Liberty’s Adynn Wheeland opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to cut Mansfield’s lead to 17 points, but the Mounties wouldn’t get any closer as Harer scored 8 points in the 18-15 final frame to help Mansfield seal the win. 

Wheeland, Mercantino and Kreger each scored 14 points for Liberty while Blake Oakley had 9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, Grinnell had 2 points and 3 assists and Sudan Benner chipped in with 1 point. 

Both teams made 7 threes in the game, including two by Shaw and one from Davis in Mansfield’s 15-11 opening quarter, and two from Mercantino and one each from Wheeland and Kreger in Liberty’s 17-16 second quarter that made it a three-point game at the break. 

North Penn-Liberty was 5-of-9 from the free throw line .. with Kreger going 2-for-2 and Mercantino making his lone attempt .. while Mansfield was 3-for-8, led by Harer and Hermansen each making 1-of-2.

The Mounties (15-8) now prepare for the District 4 Class A playoffs where they’ll hold the No. 1 seed. 

North Penn-Mansfield will face large school champ Troy in the Showdown final on Friday at Mansfield University before entering the D4 3A playoffs as the No. 3 seed.

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