NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: TROY'S BURBAGE NETS 1,000TH IN WIN OVER NP-MANSFIELD (2025-01-17)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportMANSFIELD — Troy capped off a big 63-47 NTL win over NP-Mansfield on Thursday in style as senior JB Burbage netted his 1,000th career point late in the game.
Burbage needed 20 points coming in to get the milestone, and earned his 20th point with 39 seconds left in the game, swishing two from the line.
“It feels amazing,” Burbage said about getting the accomplishment. “I couldn’t have done it without all my teammates. I mean, they’re amazing, passing me the ball, and having trust in me.”
He knew he was 20 points away, and the Trojans wanted him to get before they traveled to Bucktail on Saturday.
Burbage started strong, netting 12 points by the half, but foul trouble limited him in the second half. Once Troy put the game away they tried to feed him the ball, while the Tigers hounded him.
“It was kind of nerve wracking,” Burbage said about being just one bucket away for the last few minutes of the game. “My nerves started to kick in knowing it was that close, but I knew I just had to play through it. It didn’t matter, it was going to come eventually.”
He used a pump fake to get the Tiger defender up in the air, then drew the foul to go to the line. Burbage was just 3-for-6 at the charity stripe up to that point, but the nerves went away once he got to the line.
“I was thinking, I practice these every day,” he said. “They call them free throws for a reason, so I was just thinking that in my head.”
Burbage didn’t see any varsity time as a freshman, but hit the scene hard his sophomore season, and has been one of the best players in the NTL since.
“It’s crazy to think about that,” he said. “I really made a jump from freshman year to sophomore year. I put on some height, I put on some weight, I was in the weight room a lot, just grinding, and here it is.”
His coach, Bob Woodward, was glad to see the senior get the milestone.
“These guys mean a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve been around them since they’ve been in first grade, and they’re a tight group. The most impressive thing is they care so much about each other, and they want to see each other do well. JB understands that it takes 10 hands to score a basket, and I’m proud of how we shared the ball tonight. I’m also proud of how hard JB’s worked, and we’re just going to keep at it, and keep working.”
It was a full team effort to down the Tigers, which gives them a 2-game lead in the division standings.
Burbage added seven rebounds, and two steals to go with his 20 points.
Evan Woodward added 12 points, seven assists, five steals, and three charges taken, as Lincoln Chimics had 12 points, four rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Trey Teribury netted nine points, with Joseph Frye getting six points, and three assists. Spencer Martin chipped in with four points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Woodward, in particular, stood in the second and third quarters. He dished out assists on four Trojan buckets in a row late in the second quarter, then had three steals, and three field goals during Troy’s 11-0 run to end the third.
“Evan’s one of those teammates, he doesn’t care who gets the credit,” said Woodward. “Whether it’s taking charges, or diving out of bounds for loose balls, he brings a lot of energy to our team, just with his effort, and his attitude, and his team play.”
Cooper Shaw netted 15 points to lead NP-Mansfield, with Brady Stetter adding nine.
It was back and forth early as the two teams traded buckets, with Woodward hitting a 3-ball off a Chimics assist to put the Trojans up 8-4. A Burbage put back made it 10-4.
After a Stetter basket Burbage hit Troy’s third three of the opening frame to extend their lead to 13-6.
The two teams would trade buckets until the Tigers went on a 4-0 run late in the first to cut it to 17-13.
Chimics then found Teribury for a bucket to put Troy up 19-13 at the first horn.
Woodward opened the second quarter with a 3-ball to make it 22-13.
After an NPM free throws Troy got a 3-point play from Woodward, followed by a Teribury lay-up to extend the lead to 27-14. A Burbage put back made it 29-14.
A pair of Shaw freebies ended that Troy run, but Burbage came back with a lay-up off a Woodward helper for a 31-16 advantage.
With 2:33 left in the second NPM got their first field goal of the frame, an Andy Hermansen lay-up. The two teams would trade baskets with Troy going on a 5-0 to end the quarter with an 18-point lead at the half.
“I think that it really changed the momentum,” coach Woodward said about his team’s second quarter defense as they allowed just seven NPM points. “We had a talk at halftime in our last game, that we really need to be fundamentally sound on the defensive end, and I thought our kids brought the energy tonight defensively.”
A Chimics freebie to start the second half saw Troy’s lead get to 39-20, but the Tigers would start to claw there way back after that.
They got back to back buckets to cut it to 39-24. A Teribury 3-ball put Troy back up 42-24, but a 5-0 NPM run saw the Tigers cut it to a 13 point game.
A Chimics driving lay-up ender that little right, but a 3-ball from NPM, followed by a lay-up made it a 10-point game midway through the third quarter.
That’s when Woodward turned up the defensive play.
He got a steal and lay-up on North Penn-Mansfield’s next offensive possession, then scored on a Martin steal to make it 48-34.
Woodward then got another steal and lay-up to extend the lead back to 15-points.
Martin then found Burbage for an old fashion 3-point play, with Woodward ending the run with a steal, before hitting Chimics for a lay-up to give them a 55-34 lead going into the fourth.
NPM would cut it to 56-41, but only scored six points the rest of the way.
Troy (10-2) rides their sixth straight win as they go into Bucktail on Saturday with a 2 p.m. start time.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, and there’s a lot of good basketball yet to be played,” coach Woodward said. “There’s a lot of teams playing well right now, and we have to just focus on us, and working on getting stronger, and having good practices. That’s our goal right now, is just taking it one day at a time, and be as good as we can be.”
While Troy looks forward Burbage knows this will be a night he’ll never forget.
“It’ll be fun to look back here in a few years when I’m going to be in college,” he said. “It’ll be fun to just look back on it.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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