Tigers go on break early, fall to Kuna

The Christmas holiday break began Dec. 20 at 1:30 p.m., and it appeared the Mountain Home Tigers were definitely on break when they showed up at Kuna later that night.

The Tigers fell behind 17-5 after a quarter, but battled back in the second period to cut the deficit to five, 29-24, at halftime.

A basket by Jarrod Roberson to start the third quarter brought Mountain Home to within three, but they could get no closer. Kuna led 43-32, heading into the fourth quarter.

The closest the Tigers got in the fourth was 45-37, on a trey by Jacob Monasterio, with 6:40 left, as the Kavemen took it inside and outside and never let Mountain Home get back in the game.

"We weren't very mentally prepared to come out," said Tiger Coach Tony Kerfoot after the game. "We got off to a big deficit then climbed back into it in the second quarter, but didn't have much energy to make a stab at it in the second half.

"I thought it took a while to get going, but we came back and it was a five-point game at halftime.

"Then in the third quarter we got smoked coming out of the gate again. I don't know. Maybe it's time for a break."

Jarrod Roberson and Jacob Monasterio both scored in double figures against Kuna. Roberson scored 14, Monasterio, 13. Robert Moss added seven points, David Anderson, five, Tyler Hicks scored three, and Travis Eikeness, Troy Williams and David Armstrong each had two points.

The Tigers hit six of 18 (33 percent) of their three-point attempts, and shot 42 percent (10/24) inside the arc. They shot 71 percent (10/14) from the free-throw line.

The Tigers fell to 3-4 on the season with the loss, and are 0-2 in conference play. They return to action Jan. 3 at home against Caldwell.