Mason County and Fleming County have executed a role reversal of sorts from where they’ve been the last few years.
The Panthers are the favorites in their 16th Region. They’ve blown through their schedule to date with only a couple hiccups, and Fleming County has a dash of swagger to go along with its high-octane offense and pressure defense.
The Royals have shown flashes of performing well in their 10th Region. They know they may have to pull an upset or two to get to Rupp Arena in March, but they have the mindset they could certainly well do so.
In their old roles, with Mason County among the 10th Region’s elite and Fleming County looking to prove itself, the Royals won 14 straight games against the Panthers.
On Tuesday night, though it may have been an upset for the first time in awhile, Mason County bested its border foe once more when Shawn Johnson scored in transition with 36 seconds to play to push the Royals to a 56-54 victory.
Johnson posted 22 points and 11 boards to lead Mason County (12-7), which took care of the ball well against a Panthers team noted for its defensive pressure.
“The main thing we had to do was take care of the basketball and not turn it over,” Royals coach Chris O’Hearn said. “We had nine turnovers on the night, so that was huge, and not only did we take care of the basketball, we attacked their pressure and we got great shots. We got the ball down in the paint to Shawn, and he was able to finish and score.”
Lukas Greenhill added 14 points off the bench, draining four 3-pointers.
Darion Burns notched 22 points for the Panthers (15-3), whose six-game winning streak ended. Troy Steward scored 18, and Austin Crisp had 12.
Johnson scored eight points in the first quarter to “set the tone early,” he said, and capped the night with the tiebreaking bucket.
“I didn’t know if Steven saw me or not, but he gave me a great pass, and to be honest with you I wasn’t sure, I was like, ‘Better catch this,'” Johnson said. “And then (I) got a little contact, fought through it, and laid up for a potential game-winner.”
It was indeed the game-winner, in no small part because of Mason County’s defense, which limited the Panthers to 39.6 percent shooting from the field, including 33.3 percent in the second half.
“Being able to hold them under 40 percent is a tribute to our guys’ effort defensively, and for the most part we had very few breakdowns throughout the night,” O’Hearn said. ” … And I thought Bryeon (Gibbs) was huge the entire second half, I thought he did a much better job than anybody else did on (Bryson) McKee, and Crisp hurt us at times and got going. They’ve got three guys that can flat-out score, and it makes it tough.”
The Panthers only posted eight points in the third quarter and were held scoreless for the first 4:09 after halftime, before Steward nailed a jumper with Chambers in his grill.
“I thought our effort was there,” Fleming County coach Mark Starns said. “We’re gonna have to give Mason County credit. They stuffed us down, their length gave us some trouble (and) we weren’t able to get the good-looking shots that we normally get.”
Even so, the Panthers got the last shot down two with a chance to win.
After Johnson’s basket, Fleming County called a pair of timeouts to set up its final possession. But Steward’s contested shot from near the 3-point arc was never close.
“I thought the last play of the game Steven was tremendous challenging the shot by Steward without fouling,” O’Hearn said.
A couple minutes earlier, Greenhill’s fourth trey put the Royals on top 54-49 with 2:43 to play.
Greenhill, who Starns called “the difference maker in tonight’s game,” earned a starting spot earlier this season with strong play off the bench, but Mason County has found him to be more comfortable in a reserve role.
“I play JV, and it gets me more warmed up,” Greenhill said. “I think my legs are more hot and ready to go, so I’m glad I come off the bench. Any way I can contribute I will. It doesn’t matter, starting or coming off the bench.”
Fleming County responded to Greenhill’s trey with five straight points, though, to tie the game. Four of those came on Crisp charity tosses.
“I thought his aggressive play at the end of the first half got us that one-point lead at halftime,” Starns said of Crisp. “We had three guys doing the bulk of the scoring tonight, but we need other guys stepping up and helping those guys.”
One positive for Fleming County was rebounding, a stat the Panthers haven’t won often this season.
“We won the rebounding margin tonight 33-26,” Starns said. “That’s something we haven’t been doing.”
Mason County, which had lost four of its last six coming in, will look to use Tuesday’s victory as a springboard.
“We just gotta look at it as another game, and we gotta get better for the postseason,” Greenhill said. “We’re gonna keep our eyes on the prize, and that’s district right now. We’ve just gotta figure out a way to come out of the regular season strong going into districts.”
Added Johnson: “Getting a big win like this propels us into the 10th Region, which is more competition the same as this. So we’re gonna be ready night in and night out for this competition, and we’ll be a threat in the 10th Region.”
Mason County, which ran its record to 5-0 against 16th Region teams this season, hosts another on Friday in Rowan County. The Panthers travel to 61st District opponent Menifee County on Thursday.
Fleming County 10 21 8 15 — 54
Mason County 17 13 13 13 — 56
FC: Burns 22, Steward 18, Crisp 12, Saunders 2, McKee 0, Puente 0, McAdams 0, Williams 0. Total 54.
MC: S. Johnson 22, Stahl 6, Chambers 4, Frame 2, Henry 2, Greenhill 14, Gibbs 4, D. Johnson 2, R. Johnson 0. Total 56.
3-pointers: Fleming County 1 (Steward), Mason County 6 (Greenhill 4, Stahl 2).
Records: Fleming County 15-3, Mason County 12-7.
