Tigers get ready for district

"We're getting there -- we're not there yet, but we're showing lots of improvement so that we're almost there," said Mountain Home Tiger boys basketball coach Tony Kerfoot of his team's progress, despite dropping games to Bishop Kelly and Emmett.

The strides of improvement by the Tigers makes the District III 4A Boys Basketball Tournament starting next week definitely one to watch.

Bishop Kelly 60

Mtn. Home 48

In their first meeting, back on Jan. 5, at Mountain Home, two bad quarters did the Tigers in, as they lost, 67-43.

Thursday night's game at Bishop Kelly saw the Tigers start slow and trail by 12 after a quarter, but play them dead even the final three quarters in a 60-48 loss.

Bishop Kelly, with wins over both Skyview and Nampa the week before, leads the SIC 4A conference.

The first quarter showed why, as they shot out to an 11-0 lead over the Tigers in the first two and a half minutes.

Trailing 16-2 half-way through the quarter, Mountain Home managed to come back to make it 20-8, Bishop Kelly, after a quarter. The Tigers battled Bishop Kelly to a 40-40 tie through the last three quarters, to fall short, 60-48.

"We got down early, and then we kind of hung in there the rest of the way," said Coach Kerfoot, in radio comment after the game.

"I was kind of proud of the kids the way they fought and they came back and we definitely showed some good things.

"Defensively, we had a real decent effort. We started making some plays. Early on, when we got behind, we weren't even making it back to their end of the court, but I thought that got better as the game went on, and I thought when we executed (our offense), we got some pretty good looks. I don't know what our shooting percentage was tonight, but it wasn't our worst night we've had.

"We put some points up against a very good ball club, so I'm pretty pleased with the way we played. Hopefully, we can do it from the start to finish tomorrow night."

Nick O'Briant had a double-double with a season-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Brandon Doble, who got the start because Jake Posey was home sick, responded with 11 points. Robert Moss and Kyle Kerfoot both scored six points, and had five assists, Chris Rau, four points, and Nick Barrie, three.

The Tigers hit thee of 13 treys, for 23 percent. Inside the arc they shot 48 percent (19/40), but their free throw shooting woes continued, hitting only one of four for 25 percent.

Bishop Kelly connected on only 22 percent (2/9) of their threes, but hit 52 percent (24/47) inside the circle, and were perfect (6/6) from the charity stripe.

Emmett 66

Tigers 64

These two teams went into overtime at Emmett, and with 12 lead changes and two ties, it looked like it could happen again, but Emmett hung on to beat the Tigers, 66-64 Friday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

The lead changed hands in the first quarter, with Mountain Home up, 17-11 at the end of the first quarter through part of an 11-0 run that pushed their lead to 21-11 a minute into the second period. The Huskies whittled the Mountain Home lead down to 35-31 at the half.

Jordan Taylor and Nick Havda both hit two threes to start the third quarter, as the Huskies regained the lead, but Mountain Home kept battling and regained the lead, 48-47, heading into the fourth period.

Emmett regained the lead to start the fourth, and built it up by cashing in at the free-throw line, hitting eight straight in the quarter before finally missing, building up a 66-59 lead with 1:25 left.

Two free throws by Jake Posey with 41 seconds left made it, 66-61, and Nick Barrie hit a trey at the buzzer to bring the Tigers back within two, 66-64.

"We played some good ball tonight," said Tiger assistant Brent Keener after the game. "There were just times when we had breakdowns, and basically, they've got two guys that can shoot the ball, and if you leave them open, you're going to be in trouble."

Nick O'Briant, who set a new season high the night before with 18 at Bishop Kelly, broke that with 22 against the Huskies. He just missed another double-double, bringing down nine boards. Jake Posey broke his season high, scoring 13 points, and Nick Barrie added 12. Robert Moss netted nine points and Brandon Doble, eight.

Mountain Home connected on three of 13 (23 percent) treys, but shot a hot 56 percent (23/41) inside the circle. Their free throw shooting, though better than it had been the previous three games, still cost them the game, as they hit just nine of 19 for 47 percent.

Emmett shot 29 percent (7/24) on threes, 42 percent (14/33) on twos, and a sizzling 74 percent (17/23) from the foul line.

The Tigers fell to 2-10 in league play, and 4-14 on the season.

Mountain Home plays at Middleton tonight, and closes out its regular season schedule Friday night at home against Nampa. The District III 4A Tournament starts next Tuesday.