Tigers open district with win

The Tigers would have liked to end their regular season on a winning note, but it didn't happen at Columbia. The team did rebound, however, opening district play with a win at Kuna Saturday night.

Columbia 50

Mtn. Home 36

The Mountain Home Tigers struggled offensively last Tuesday night at Columbia, losing to the Wildcats, 50-36, in their regular season final.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but Columbia went on an 8-0 run to go up, 10-5. The Tigers battled back to within two, 12-10, at the end of the quarter.

Columbia built its lead to seven points in the second quarter, and took a 24-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Mountain Home fell behind by eight early in the third quarter, battled back within two, 28-26, with 3:47 left in the period, but Columbia outscored the Tigers 8-3 the rest of the quarter to take a 36-29 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers were never able to mount a fourth quarter rally, as Columbia pulled away for a 50-36 win.

Nick Barrie led the Tiger scoring with eight points, Kyle Kerfoot, Alex Campbell and Jake Posey each had six, Danny Snelgrow, five, Chris Maholick, four, and Travis Gordon scored one.

Mountain Home went to the free-throw line 24 times, but connected on just 11 of them for 46 percent.

Tigers 56

Kuna 49

The loss to Columbia dropped the Tigers into a tie with Columbia, but Mountain Home won the tie-breaker and secured the number five seed, which meant opening the District III 4A Boys Basketball Tournament at fourth-seeded Kuna on Saturday night.

Mountain Home pulled ahead for good late in the second quarter, and built up a 15-point lead in the second half on its way to a 56-49 win.

The first quarter produced seven lead changes and a tie, with Kuna up, 11-10, at the quarter's end.

Mountain Home regained the lead on a basket by Jake Posey early in the second quarter, but the Kavemen scored twice to go up, 15-12.

Kyle Kerfoot hit three treys in the quarter, the second put the Tigers up, 20-18, and the third gave Mountain Home a 25-20 lead at halftime.

Mountain Home extended the lead to 10 points, 32-22, in the first two minutes of the third quarter, but the Kavemen battled back within four, 35-31 midway through the quarter. Treys by Jordan Cisna and Kyle Kerfoot helped the Tigers take a 43-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers quickly built the lead to 49-34 in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, and held off Kuna for a 56-49 victory.

"That was a very nice win, especially the way it ended up, but it definitely was not the way we drew it up," said Coach Kerfoot after the game. "(Jake) Posey goes down (in the third quarter), and we miss him the rest of the game. I didn't know we could hold the rope without him, and some kids came in and stepped up big and covered that up, and that was huge.

"Zane Bundy did a heck of a job, Jordan Cisna came in off the bench. With Posey's (loss), Jordan got converted from a wing to a post, that quick. He came in and hit a three, and I told him right there at the end of the game, 'you know, that three-pointer you hit looks awfully big right now.' We saw some great team efforts all the way through!"

Coach Kerfoot was also pleased with the defensive effort that held Kuna under 50 points.

"They're buying in. They're buying in and I think they're doing a great job right, and I actually had a defensive goal to keep them under 52. I was going to give them two extra points over here, and the players came up and they said, 'Coach, change that to 50!' So they're starting to take a little pride in their defense, and that's a great sign!"

Kyle Kerfoot led the Tigers offensively with 17 points. Alex Campbell added nine points, Nick Barrie, seven, Jake Hiler, six, Danny Snelgrow, five, Jake Posey, four, Zane Bundy and Jordan Cisna, three, and Chris Maholick, two.

The win put the Tigers in the semi-finals where they faced the Emmett Huskies last night at Emmett. The winner of that game advances to the championship game on Friday, and more importantly, secures a berth into next week's State 4A Tournament at The College of Idaho in Caldwell.