Freshmen Tigers win two in busy week

The ninth-grade boy's basketball team had a good week, winning two of the three games they played.

The boys defeated Columbia and Skyview, while they lost to Caldwell.

On Tuesday, the young Tigers took on the Wildcats of Columbia.

Using a fast break offense and smothering defense the Tigers jumped out to a 26-11 halftime lead. Quick buckets to start the third quarter by Tony McKenzie, Jared Day, and Luke Filipovich extended the Tiger lead to 32-11 before Columbia's Mike Ruby took over. He scored 18 points over the third and fourth quarter to help Columbia climb back into the game. The young Tigers didn't give up and held on, even though they were outscored 31-19 in the second half, for the 45-42 victory.

Tony McKenzie led the team with 18 points. Alex Rodriquez had a double/double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jake Hennessey had five points, Luke Filipovich had four points, and Tyler Knauth and Jared Day each had two points.

The boy's had little time to savor their win as they traveled to Caldwell to play the Cougars on Wednesday.

The boys hung tough for the first half, only trailing 19-13 at the half. But in the second half "you could see tired legs take over" as the Tigers shots were coming up short and the Cougars just ran the young Tigers out of the gym with a 47-29 victory, according to head coach Brian English.

Alex Rodriquez led the team with another double/double scoring ten points and grabbing 18 rebounds. Tyler Knauth had six points, Tony McKenzie had five points, Luke Filipovich and Chaise Hopkins each had three points, and Garrett Burton had two points.

The boys took on Skyview on Friday. The young Tigers started off playing even with the Hawks and at the end of the first quarter the Tigers led 9-8.

In the second quarter good foul shooting allowed the Tigers to go in at the half up 22-17.

In the third quarter the Tigers turned up the defense pressure and outscored the Hawks 15-8 to lead 37-25.

The Hawks made a run behind Brady Meganbrick's 15 points but it was too little too late as the Tigers held on for the 51-36 victory.

Luke Filipovich led the team with a double/double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jared Day had 12points. Alex Rodriguez earned his third double/double of the week with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jake Hennessey added five points, Chaise Hopkins had three points, Blaine Jewett, Garrett Burton, and Tony McKenzie each had two points and Tyler Knauth rounded out the scoring with one point.

"I thought we had a good week" English said.

"In the Columbia game we played two good quarters and then held on to win. The boys showed a lot of poise in never giving up once Columbia got back in it, and they played to win. I was hoping to build on that Wednesday at Caldwell but we just ran out of gas.

"It was the first time we played on back-to-back days so it was a new experience.

"I still thought we did some good things. Against Skyview, I have been saying all year heaven forbid the team when we decided to play four quarters.

"The Skyview game was a four-quarter game and with that we won by our biggest margin, 15 points, and scored our most points, 51. Now the agenda is to build on this past week's success and get better."

The upcoming schedule will make that tough on the young Tigers as their next six games are against 5A teams. The team hosts Centennial on Tuesday and then travels to Eagle on Friday.