FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mansfield falls to Bowie 79-59 in opening round of NCAA Tournament

Boxscore

WEST LIBERTY, WV – Yuseff Carr scored 21 points but Mansfield was unable to overcome a slow start falling to Bowie State 79-59 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Saturday afternoon at West Liberty University..

“We played hard,” said had coach Rich Miller about the difference making first eight minutes of the game. “But we didn't shoot well and we turned the ball over too often. In the end it proved to be too large of a deficit to overcome especially against a team as talented and athletic as Bowie.”

Mansfield never managed to get untracked early in game being held without a field goal for almost the first six minutes and trailing 19-4 before Kurtis Levere hit a jumper for the Mountaineers first basketball of the game.

Mansfield cut the lead to 21-12 a little over two minutes later when Levere hit another jumper to pull to 21-12. A jumper by Derrison Anthony midway through the first half got Mansfield to 25-18 but the Mountaineers would be able to pull no closer trailing 45-25 at halftime.

While the Mountaineers shot a dismal 29% from the floor (8-28) in the first half, Bowie State with a sparkling 51% including a 7-of-8 performance from seven-foot center Travis Hyman scoring 15 of his 21 points in the first half.

Mansfield trailed 54-29 five minutes into the second half before started to slowly rally closing to 56-42 on a 3-pointer by Carr with 11 minutes to play.

The Mountaineers got to within 11 points twice late in the game, once on a Carr jumper with seven minutes left and against at 68-57 on a 3-pointer by Cory Henneghan with just over four minutes to go but could pull no closer.

Mansfield struggled at the free throw line, especially early in the game, hitting 13-26 from the line.

Mansfield played without starter Tony Fannick who was injured in the final shoot around at Mansfield before the team got on the bus for West Liberty .

Carr finished his brilliant career at Mansfield with a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds despite getting into early foul trouble that kept him for a long stretch in the first half.

Cory Henneghan came off the bench to score nine points, all of them coming on 3-pointers while senior Derrison Anthony, despite a subpar 1-for-9 shooting performance scored eight points.

“Bowie is a great team,” said Anthony. “But the difference wasn't as much as what they did as it was what we didn't do. We just allowed too many easy layups and second chance rebounds and turned the ball over too often at critical times.”

Darren Clark had a game-high 24 points for Bowie State (23-5) followed by Hyman's 21 points on 10-of13 shooting from the floor. Eric Vann added 15 points.

Mansfield ends the season as the PSAC East Division Champions with an 18-10 overall record.