LocalSportsJournal.com
MCBAIN — Mason County Central’s boys basketball team seems to be catching fire at just the right time.
The Spartans defeated Evart, 55-44 on Wednesday night in a MHSAA Division 3 district semifinal game at McBain and now plays for the title Friday night.
It was the Spartans’ second win in a row, and was largely due to the career night had by Jayden Perrone.
“We had a solid first half,” noted Spartans’ head coach Tim Genson. “We had a sluggish third quarter, and into the fourth. I think they cut it to two points.
“Then we went on a 9-0 run to finish the game. It didn’t look like it was going to be, but we took off.”
Mason County Central finished the first quarter with a 12-11 edge, and then limited Evart to just three points in the second and scored another 12 to take a 24-14 lead af the half.
As Genson said, the third quarter wasn’t a good one for the Spartans, who were outscored, 13-10 and saw their lead trimmed to seven points, 34-27 entering the fourth quarter.
Evart got even closer in the fourth period, shaving the Spartans lead down to just 46-44 before the Spartans rocketed away from the Wildcats with that big closing run, finishing with a 21-17 advantage in the final eight minutes.
“Defensively, they kind of jumped around from zone to man,” Genson said. “It tended to keep us off balance. We got up by about 12 in the third, and then they came storming back.
“They made some early 3’s against our zone, and got us in a little bit of foul trouble. We were able to hold it together.”
Perrone led all scorers in the game with 27 points for the Spartans. He also ripped down 17 rebounds and picked off four steals. Will Chye added 17 points, had four rebounds and dished out three assists.
Dakobe White scored 17 points for Evart, while Kam Darling added 11 and Bryant Calderon 12.
Mason County Central improved to 7-14.
