MANSFIELD — Kyevi Roane may not be the flashiest player on the roster, but Mansfield Senior’s junior swingman is certainly the craftiest.
Roane scored a game-high 18 points and swiped eight rebounds as the Tygers opened the season with a 59-44 Ohio Cardinal Conference win over Ashland at Pete Henry Gym.
“He plays like an old man,” Senior High coach Marquis Sykes said. “He’s very, very productive.”
The Tygers (1-0, 1-0) raced to an 18-7 first-quarter advantage thanks largely to point guard Karion Lindsay. The 5-foot-10 senior scored 10 of his 13 points in the period while connecting on a pair of 3-pointers.
“I’ve been taking on more of a leadership role this year,” said Lindsay, who matched Roane with eight boards and handed out four assists. “I’m taking more of a scoring role (because) we lost a lot key scorers.
“I’ve got to bring more scoring this, more leadership, more everything. I’ve got to step into that senior role.”
Ashland (0-2, 0-1) got back into it in the second quarter, outscoring the Tygers 14-4 during the first seven minutes and cutting Senior High’s lead to 22-21 on a Tyler Sauder layup with 1:25 top play in the opening half.
Roane stopped the bleeding, connecting on four three throws in the final 1:02 to give the Tygers a 28-22 halftime advantage.
“We’ve seen glimpses. That second quarter was a really nice quarter,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “We’ve got to be patient with them and we also need the kids to stay the course to get better.
“At times tonight, we kind of gave in and let Mansfield do what Mansfield wanted to do.”
The Arrows lost seven seniors to graduation off last year’s team. That group, which included Grayson Steury, accounted for almost 70 percent of Ashland’s offense last winter. Steury is the second-leading scorer in program history.
“It’s partially about guys figuring out their roles and it’s partially guys getting used to playing at the varsity level,” Hess said. “We basically have three guys that played a little bit last year. Everybody else is new.”
Mansfield Senior iced it in the third quarter, outscoring the Arrows 21-10 and opening a 49-32 advantage going to the fourth. The advantage ballooned to 57-36 on a Duke Reese layup with 3:21 remaining before Ashland closed on an 8-2 run.
Sophomore point guard Gabe Baith led the Arrows with 12 points. Isaac Stewart added 10 points, while Nathan Bernhard grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
D.J. Corbin backed Roane and Lindsay with nine points for the Tygers. Duke Reese had six points, including a pair of dunks, and four assists.
The Tygers played without Ja’Ontay O’Bryant, who is still recovering from broken ribs suffered in Mansfield Senior’s football playoff loss to Toledo Central Catholic. O’Bryant is expected back within the next week.
“Once we get Ja’Ontay back we’ll have our full rotation. That’s going to make our rotation even better,” Sykes said. “Tonight a lot of guys came in and played quality minutes.
“I like this team. They play extremely hard … but there’s a lot to work on. We’re never satisfied and we’re never complacent.
“I’ve always got my coaching hat on and thinking about what we can do and how we can be better.”
