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In their final regular season game of the 2018-19 season the North Penn-Mansfield boys basketball team beat the Athens Wildcats 80-67 on Saturday, February 9.

The Tigers won the opening tip and immediately scored on a Sawyer Freeman layup, but Athens hit back-to-back three-pointers on shots by Aric Westbrook and Benny Gambrell to take a 6-2 lead early. After that, back-to-back shots by Dylan Meyer to tie the game up at 6-all. The Tigers then went on a 10-2 run to lead 16-8 midway through the opening frame.

Mansfield extended their lead to 10, 24-14, late in the quarter before Athens rallied to cut the lead to 26-19 to start the second quarter. Athens rallied to cut the Tigers’ lead to 30-25 but Mansfield increased the lead back to 37-30 late. Athens got as close as 41-38 with under a minute to play, but the Tigers went on a 4-0 run to close the half to lead 45-38 at the break.

North Penn-Mansfield grew their lead to as much as 13 to start the second half before the Wildcats came back to cut it to 53-44, but Mansfield was just too much in the second half. A 17-15 quarter put Mansfield up 62-53 as the fourth entered, where they would again go on to outscore Athens, 18-14, and secure the final win of the regular season.

Meyer finished with a career-high 32 points for the Tigers while Brent Burleigh had 14 and Garrett David added 12. Meyer also grabbed 16 rebounds on the night for a double-double. Jayden Andrews added 8 steals, 6 assists, and 9 points, Burleigh added 6 assists, and David pitched in 5 assists.

The win improves the Tigers’ record to 16-6 overall and keeps them in 2nd place in the NTL Large School Division standings for the NTL Showdown later this week.