Tigers falter in bid for state berth

The season ended for the Mountain Home Tigers last Thursday night, just two nights after they ended Caldwell's season in a busy week of District III 4A tourney basketball.

Mountain Home 64

Caldwell 48

The Mountain Home Tigers ended the season for the Caldwell Cougars last Tuesday night at the District III 4A Basketball Tournament at Caldwell.

Mountain Home came out hot from long range, hitting five of their first six treys, and led 17-12 after a quarter.

Caldwell managed to take an 18-17 lead early in the second period, but a trey by Stephen Reinschmidt put the Tigers up 20-18, and they did not give up the lead the rest of the night. The Tigers led 29-20 at the half.

A 12-0 Tiger run midway through the third period stretched the lead to 41-23. It was 44-28 heading into the fourth quarter.

A basket and two free throws by Travis Elliott to start the fourth quarter gave Mountain Home its biggest lead of the night, 48-28, with 6:43 left.

The Cougars managed to whittle the lead down to 55-46 with 2:40 left, but could come no closer, as the Tigers hit 9 of 12 free throws down the stretch to register the 64-48 win.

"I really thought we came out well right from the first, and that's what we wanted to do," said Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot after the game. "Hats off to the kids. That was a a great victory for them."

Three Tigers scored in double figures, led by Arturo Garcia with 21. Travis Elliott matched his season high with 11 points, and Brock Zamora netted 10. Stephen Reinschmidt netted nine points, Keith Yagues and Matt Maurer both scored four, Clark Williams had three, and Mark Fischer scored two.

Mountain Home put up the same amount of three-pointers as they did two-point shots, netting eight of 21 (38 percent) treys, and 11 of 21 (52 percent) twos. They cashed in on 18 of 29 (62 percent) from the free throw line.

Caldwell made only four of 19 (21 percent) long range shots, and shot 40 percent (12/30) inside the arc.

They shot 63 percent (12/19) from the foul line.

Kuna 63

Mountain Home 40

The Caldwell win set up another battle with Kuna for third place, and the right to travel north for a Saturday date with Post Falls with a 4A state tourney berth on the line.

If there is one thing to be said about the Mountain Home Tigers this season, it is they have certain tendencies. If they get hot from three-point range one night, it rarely happens two nights in a row.

Such was the case Thursday night with the Kavemen, who came out shooting the ball well, ending the night 50 percent from long range.

A basket by Matt Maurer a little over a minute into the ball game tied the game at two, and that would turn out to be the closest Mountain Home would get.

The Tigers stayed close for a quarter, trailing only 17-13, but Kuna, with 15 first-half points from David Andrus, shot out to a 34-23 lead at halftime.

The Kavemen took advantage of Mountain Home's frigid third quarter to increase their lead to 52-27 heading into the final period. The Tigers missed all eight field goal attempts in the quarter, managing only four of six free throws during the period.

Mountain Home was unable to get any type of a rally going in the final quarter, as the Kavemen breezed to a 63-40 win.

"That definitely wasn't one of our best nights," said Coach Kerfoot after the game. "You have to give Kuna a lot of credit, I thought they out-hustled us, and played a lot better defensively than we did, and they were also ready to step up and make shots."

The Kavemen connected on seven of 14 treys for 50 percent, while the Tigers converted just three of 13 (23 percent). Kuna hit 52 percent (15/29) on two-point shots, while the Tigers shot 34 percent (10/29).

Kuna hit 75 percent (12/16) of their free throws, while the Tigers connected on 11 of 18 (61 percent).

No Tiger scored in double figures against Kuna.

Arturo Garcia and Brock Zamora each scored eight. Keith Yagues matched his season high with seven, Travis Elliott added six, Danny Downen scored four, Matt Maurer netted three, Clark Williams and Stephen Reinschmidt both ended the night with two points.

The loss ended the season for the Tigers, who finished 8-14 overall.