Northern Tier West Sports ReportLIBERTY — North Penn-Mansfield led for all but 16 seconds and pulled away from North Penn-Liberty in the fourth quarter to beat the Mounties 52-37 in NTL boys’ basketball action here Saturday night.
Five Tigers scored in a 13-7 NPM first quarter to limit the damage from Liberty’s Evan McTish’s five early points, and the Mounties opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run .. an ‘and-1’ by McTish and a 3-pointer from Landon Mattern .. to tie the game up at 13-all with 7:25 left in the second frame.
Jason Harer gave NPM back their lead with two free throws with 7:09 remaining til the break and led the Tigers on a 16-3 run to end the first half, scoring nine points to help Mansfield to a 29-16 halftime advantage.
Harer finished with a game-high 21 points and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds, while teammate Andy Hermansen hit double-digits in both points (12) and rebounds (10) as well.
After Patrick Youmans scored to open the second half and Hermansen hit his second three of the game to give Mansfield their biggest lead of the night at 34-16, Liberty ended the quarter with a 16-4 run .. including eight points by Conner Lewis .. to pull the Mounties to with six at 38-32 as they went to the final frame.
Harer scored three straight baskets to open the fourth quarter and after a Luke Kreger free throw for NPL, scored his 7th and 8th points of the period to make it 46-33 Mansfield. Hermansen scored twice late to help seal the Tigers’ win.
Patrick Youmans scored eight points for Mansfield in the win and grabbed eight boards, while Layne Cummings added four points, Colton Pellett and Kevin Clemente-Vazquez had three points each and Collin Oakes rounded out the Tigers’ scoring attack with one point.
McTish led the Mounties with 13 points in the loss and added five boards, while Lewis scored eight points and had 11 rebounds and four steals. Mattern scored five points, Brody Grinnell had four points and six rebounds, Sudan Benner had four points and Kreger finished with three.
Mansfield improves to 6-5 on the season with their third straight win and snaps the Mounties’ four game winning streak to leave them at 5-5. Both teams return to action Tuesday, with the Tigers hosting league-leader Towanda (10-1), and Liberty visits Sayre (1-10).
