By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPARTA, MO – Mansfield’s Jace Headrick certainly has a flair for the dramatic.
During Saturday’s Sparta Invitational championship matchup between Mansfield and Willow Springs, the 6-foot-1 sophomore went scoreless through the first three quarters of an extremely tight battle.
With 1:42 left in the final frame, Headrick erupted with back-to-back baskets for the Lions and knotted the score at 47 and 49 points, respectively.
Fortunately for Mansfield, his best was yet to come.
On a play designed to find an open cutter, Headrick spotted up on the wing with 15 seconds on the clock and buried a kick-out 3-pointer to put the Lions up for good.
“It was a set play my coach drew up,” Headrick said of the game-winning shot. “I knew I was going to hit a big shot, I had the confidence and it went in. I was just hyped; just screaming, because now I got a lead.”
Mansfield head coach Craig Campbell wasn’t the least bit surprised by Headrick’s late-game heroics.
“Jace is always one of those kids that you can’t ever count out, even when he’s having a bad game offensively,” Campbell said. “The guys have faith in him, and I have faith in him that he’ll be able to put the ball in the hole. He’s just a guy that has a tendency – him and Haven (Proetz) are kind of the guys that can knock down the big shot, and they just don’t feel the pressure.”
Late game fireworks aside, both teams felt the pressure of the championship moment early on. A frantic pace begat turnovers, missed shots and a combined 38 percent shooting clip for both teams.
Mansfield emerged from the shaky start holding a 10-8 lead after one.
Campbell was quick to recall a similar start from his team just a week earlier against Willow Springs which resulted in a loss.
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“The first quarter was very similar to last Friday for us,” Campbell said. “The difference was, luckily, they missed their shots. We both missed them about evenly. Last Friday when we played them, we didn’t hit shots and they did. That’s kind of where the gap was tonight.”
Late in the second period, Willow Springs captured the lead on a James Dean basket which put the Bears up 20-18. Moments later, a Blayne Attermatt 3-pointer at the buzzer extended the Willow Springs lead to 23-19.
While Mansfield was unable to maintain its first-half lead, Campbell was confident in his deep roster’s ability to maintain focus and effort.
“We probably have one of the deepest benches for our school size,” Campbell said. “I could honestly go ten deep and still be okay if I needed to. They just keep it going. We keep clawing and chipping and keep going. We’ve won our last two nail biters, so that’s one of those things that, hopefully, keeps moving in the right direction for us.”
For most of the second half, Willow Springs controlled the game thanks in part to Kolby James’ scoring outburst.
James, a 5-foot-9 junior guard, poured in 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half.
Unfortunately for the guard-heavy and largely undersized Bears, emerging foul problems came to a head when 6-foot-2 senior Jace Rodgers fouled out with 4:48 left in the fourth quarter.
Baskets from James and Caden Lee allowed Willow Springs to maintain control late into the final frame.
Down 47-44 with only 1:42 remaining, Mansfield needed a big play.
Queue Headrick and his game-winning heroics, which tied the score twice, and then put the Lions up for good on the final 3-pointer of the contest.
Mansfield’s ability to perform throughout the tournament was tested not only on the court, but in the classroom, as well, with the school missing two days at the end of the week due to a flu outbreak.
“It takes you out of a rhythm,” Campbell said. “I’m a big believer that when a kid goes to school and does a normal school day and then goes and plays, he gets used to that. When you have days like we’ve had this week, it kind of takes them out of that rhythm. The boys fought through that, and we had a good week, but it’ll be interesting to get everybody back on Monday and try to get back into things.”
Up next for Mansfield is a home matchup with Sparta on Friday, Feb. 7. Willow Springs travels to Liberty – Mountain View on Tuesday, Feb. 4,
Varsity Final: Mansfield – 55, Willow Springs – 53
Mansfield 10 09 16 20 55
Willow Springs 08 15 15 15 53
Willow Springs scoring: Kolby James – 28, Jace Rodgers – 11, James Dean – 6, Brady James – 4, Blayne Altermatt – 3, Caden Lee 1
Mansfield scoring: Fisher Croney – 11, Haven Proetz – 11, Jace Headrick – 8, Kellen Campbell – 7, Blake Henry – 7, Riley Stidham – 7, Charlie Grubbs – 2, Malachi Ussery – 2
