Mansfield Men Hold Off West Chester in 2OT 106-102 Behind Tamanosky's Heroics

MANSFIELD – Matt Tamanosky scored 11 of his career-high 31 points in overtime to lead Mansfield to a 106-102 PSAC win over West Chester in double-overtime Tuesday evening on First Citizens Community Bank Court in Decker Gymnasium.

The win was the first for the Mountaineers over West Chester since Tony Fannick hit a 3-pointer with one second remaining in a 53-50 victory during the 2009-10 season and snapped a 12-game losing-skid to the Golden Rams.

Mansfield dominated the game for the first 34 minutes, taking a 17-4 lead to open the game before going into halftime with a 37-26 advantage.

The Mountaineers extended the lead to 69-50 on a 3-pointer by Malik Carter with just under eight minutes to play before the Golden Rams went on a torrid comeback, taking an 83-82 lead with a minute remaining in regulation.

"When we lost that lead we just decided enough was enough," said Tamanosky after the game. "We settled down, made the plays we had to and kept believing in ourselves."

Mansfield tied the game with 18 seconds left on a free throw by Jahyde Gardiner with West Chester's 3-pointer at the buzzer falling well short ending regulation tied at 83-83.

The Mountaineers jumped out to a 89-83 lead in the first two minutes of the first overtime and held a 93-90 advantage with under a minute to play in the extra period before West Chester hit three free throws to send the game into double OT.

The score was tied again at 100-100 with just under two minutes to play when Malik Carter hit a free throw to put the Mountaineers up by one point.

After a West Chester turnover, Tamanosky scored on a layup extending the lead to 103-100 and added two more free throws to give Mansfield a five-point lead with 30 seconds left.

The game featured a total of 60 fouls and 85 combined free throws with West Chester hitting 34-of-43 and Mansfield 24-of-42. West Chester hit 14-of-14 free throws in the overtime periods while Mansfield connected on 11-of-21 attempts.

Carter scored 22 points for the Mountaineers with Gerasimo Koutoufas adding a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Cedrick Powell added 16 points and nine rebounds.

Tyrell Long led West Chester with a double-double scoring 21 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

Mansfield improves to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in PSAC play and travels to Cheyney on Friday.