Tigers come up short twice last week

The Mountain Home Tigers continue to show improvement but came up short in their quest for wins last week in boys basketball action.

Buhl Indians 55

Mountain Home 36

The Mountain Home Tigers had their moments against Buhl last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium, but each time it seemed the Tigers were on a roll, Will Chivers made some timely baskets that kept Mountain Home at bay.

The Tigers, who had not played since facing the Indians at Buhl 10 nights earlier, played like it, starting slow, falling behind, 7-0, before Jake Posey's basket got them on the scoreboard with 2:28 left in the opening period. It was 7-2, Buhl, after a quarter.

Mountain Home fell behind by eight points in the second quarter, but battled back to within two, 18-16, on a basket and free-throw by Robert Moss with 2:24 left in the first half. It would be the Tigers last points of the half, and Will Chivers scored six unanswered to put the Buhl lead back to eight, 24-16 at the half.

The Tigers struggled in the third quarter, and fell behind by double digits, and were down, 39-28, heading into the final quarter.

Baskets by Nick Barrie and Jake Posey to start the fourth quarter brought the Tigers back to within seven, 39-32, with 6:46 to go.

Back came the Indians behind Will Chivers. The 6' 3" senior had 12 points at halftime, but had been shut out in the third quarter.

Chivers hit a couple baskets over a two-minute span that pushed the lead back out to 11, 43-32, and the Tigers managed just four points the rest of the way.

"I thought we played defensively the way I like to play," said Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot in radio comments. "I saw improvement defensively, and I saw improvement at the free-throw line, but offensively, we really struggled. Part of that was Buhl. I think they're a good ball club."

Robert Moss led the Tigers scoring with 10 points, Kyle Kerfoot and Nick Barrie both added six, Jake Posey, Brandon Doble and Ryan Carlen each scored four, and Nick O'Briant scored two

The taller Buhl ball club won the battle of the boards, 41-28.

Will Chivers led Buhl with a double-double, scoring 16 points and bringing down 12 rebounds. Nick Barrie led Mountain Home with nine boards.

The Tigers shot a frigid 11 percent (2/19) from long range, and 30 percent (12/40) inside the arc. They did improve their free-throw shooting, hitting six of eight for 75 percent.

Buhl hit two of seven treys for 29 percent, and shot 46 percent (19/41) inside the circle. They shot 61 percent (11/18) from the charity stripe.

Kuna Kavemen 63

Mountain Home 54

The Tigers opened their conference schedule at Kuna last Friday night and battled the Kavemen throughout, but came up short, 63-54.

A 6-0 Tiger run midway through the first quarter put the Tigers up 8-4 with 4:29 left in the period, but it would be the last points Mountain Home would score in the quarter until a basket by Ryan Carlen at the buzzer, cutting the Kuna lead to 14-8.

Kuna extended their lead in the second quarter, and led the Tigers 35-23 at the half.

Mountain Home managed to cut the deficit to nine on a couple occasions in the third period, but the Kavemen would push it back to double digits.

A trey by Kyle Kerfoot brought the Tigers back within nine, 47-38, heading into the final quarter.

Robert Moss sank two free throws early in the fourth quarter to bring the Tigers within seven, at 47-40, but Kuna got a basket from Devin Thorton and a trey from Jaden Noteboom to push the lead back to 12, 52-40, with 6:15 left.

Kuna built up a 60-44 lead, but the Tigers battled back to make it a 63-54 final.

"We had some good minutes, but consistency is our problem, and we need to overcome that," said Coach Kerfoot after the game. "We seem to be in a run where we compliment a bad offensive possession with going to sleep on defense, and that's something we can't do. We're compounding our mistakes that way, and if we have a lull offensively, your defense should overcome that, and it's not working that way for us right now."

Robert Moss and Nick O'Briant both had new season highs offensively, Moss scored 18 points, O'Briant, 15. Jake Posey added eight points, Kyle Kerfoot, seven, Brandon Doble, three, Ryan Carlen, two, and Tim Beard, one.

The Tigers hit just two of 11 (18 percent) treys, to Kuna's five of 12 (42 percent). Mountain Home hit 17 of 36 (47 percent) two-point goals, the Kavemen, 17 of 34 (50 percent). The Tigers made 14 of 23 (61 percent) from the free-throw line, Kuna, 14 of 22 (64 percent). The nine-point deficit turned out to be the three more treys hit by Kuna.

Kuna won the battle of the boards, 33-24. Jake Posey had six rebounds to lead the Tigers.

Skyview Hawks 67

Mountain Home 26

Mountain Home faced Skyview Saturday afternoon at Skyview, where the Hawks outscored Mountain Home 45-9 in the first and third quarters to breeze to a 67-26 victory over the Tigers.

The Tigers went five minutes before scoring in the first quarter, which ended up 29-5, Skyview. Skyview went nearly four and a half minutes before scoring in the second period, but the Tigers scored just nine in the quarter, and trailed, 33-14, at the half.

An 11-0 run in between Mountain Home baskets in the third quarter, stretched Skyview's lead to 49-18. The Hawks outscored Mountain Home 18-8 in the fourth to win, 67-26.

Robert Moss led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points. Tim Beard and Jake Posey both scored four points, for Beard a new season high. Kyle Kerfoot and Nick O'Briant each scored three, and Kyle Hall had two points.

Mountain Home shot 23 percent (3/13) on three-pointers, and just 21 percent (7/33) on shots inside the circle. They also had an off-day shooting free throws, hitting just 33 percent (3/9).

Skyview hit just 24 percent (5/21) of their treys, but hit 58 percent (23/40) inside the arc, and 60 percent (6/10) of their free throws.

The Hawks won the battle of the boards, bringing down 44 rebounds to the Tigers' 29. Tim Beard and Nick Barrie both had six boards to lead Mountain Home.

The Tigers dropped to 0-2 in conference, and 0-6, overall.

They hosted Columbia last (Tuesday) night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium, and travel to Filer on Dec. 29.