Sophomore boys beat Skyview, Columbia

The Mountain Home Tigers returned to the win column last week, picking up two wins in conference sophomore boys basketball

Tigers 36

Skyview 33

Mountain Home battled Skyview tough last Tuesday night at Skyview, holding off the Hawks 36-33 in conference boys basketball.

The Tigers took an early lead, but fell behind 13-6 after a quarter. They battled back to go up 19-17 with 3:07 left in the half. The score was tied at 21-21 at halftime.

The lead went back and forth in the third quarter with Mountain Home trailing 30-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

Anthony Barbosa's trey with 3:45 left put the Tigers up 32-30, but Skyview regained the lead, 33-32, with 1:21 left in the game. Ricky Castillo's basket with 41 seconds left put the Tigers ahead 34-33. Brent Sexauer added two free throws with nine seconds left to extend the lead to 36-33. Skyview was unable to score in its final possession, as the Tigers prevailed 36-33.

Brent Sexauer led a balanced Tiger scoring attack with nine points. James Simon added eight, J.T. Cristobal scored seven, Mert Baysal four, Ricky Castillo and Anthony Barbosa both scored three, and Justin Connolly added two points.

Tigers 46

Columbia 45

Brent Sexauer hit a basket and a free throw with 10 seconds left to lift the Tigers past a stubborn Columbia team 46-45 last Thursday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home took a 2-0 lead on a basket by Tyler Wright, but went over five and a half minutes before they would score again, as the Wildcats went on a 14-0 run. It was 17-9, Columbia, after a quarter.

An 11-0 run by the Tigers to start the second quarter put them up 20-17 with 3:15 left in the half, but Columbia ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to lead 24-20 at the half.

The Tigers fell behind by six in the third quarter and battled back to take the lead, 33-32, on a basket by J.T. Cristobal with 1:45 left in the quarter. But Columbia hit two free throws to take a 34-33 lead into the fourth quarter.

The lead went back and forth in the fourth quarter, with seven lead changes, the big one being the basket and free throw by Brent Sexauer with 10 seconds left that put the Tigers up 46-45. Columbia tried for a last second shot, but missed, and the Tigers prevailed.

Tyler Wright led the Tigers with 10 points. J.T. Cristobal and Colton Zamora both added nine, Anthony Barbosa netted six, Brent Sexauer, five, Ricky Castillo three, and Dakota Ramos and Mert Baysal both scored two points.