Tigers tied for third place with wins over Kuna and Columbia

The Mountain Home Tigers moved back up into a tie for third place with conference wins over Kuna and Columbia last week.

Tigers 60

Kuna 45

The Mountain Home Tigers broke upon a close game in the second half on their way to a 60-45 conference win over the Kuna Kavemen last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium

Mountain Home shot out to an early 9-3 lead but Kuna battled back on a 10-1 run to go up 13-10. It was tied 15-15 after a quarter.

The Tigers fell behind 20-16 early in the second quarter but an 8-0 run gave them the lead at 24-20. The Tigers led 29-27 at the half.

Kuna scored the first basket of the third quarter to tie the game at 29-29, but the Tigers outscored them 14-5 the rest of the quarter to lead 43-34 heading into the fourth.

An 8-0 run early in the fourth put the game out of reach, as the Tigers continued to put up points on their way to a 60-45 win.

"I thought it was very nice," said Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot after the game.

"We came out in the first half and had some good things going, and then we kind of quit rebounding, and we had the break going, but we had guys leaking out on the break before we got the rebound, and they were getting second and third opportunities and I thought we just kind of let them hang around in the first half.

"Then in the third quarter I thought we played excellent defense and we got the ball moving and scored. If we move the ball, we'll hit our open shots, and I thought we kind of saw more of what we can be in that second half."

D.J. Elliott and Alex Campbell led the Tigers with 21 and 20 points, respectively.

David Bitrick had a season-high seven points, Trevor Woodruff added four, Kyle Kerfoot, Danny Snelgrow, Logan Monasterio, Chris Maholick and Deion Brown all scored two points.

Mountain Home hit five of 11 three-point attempts for 45 percent. They were 42 percent (13/31) inside the arc, and shot 70 percent (19/27) from the free-throw line.

Kuna shot a frigid eight percent (2/24) on treys, 41 percent (15/34) on twos, and just 41 percent (9/22) from the foul line.

Mountain Home won the battle of the boards, 39-28, with Alex Campbell and D.J. Elliott both bringing down 10.

Tigers 71

Wildcats 61

The Mountain Home Tiger wore down the Columbia Wildcats Friday night at Columbia, beating the Wildcats 71-61.

The Tigers fell behind 5-0 early in the game and managed to battle back to tie the game four times, but trailed 22-20 after one.

D.J. Elliott hit a trey early in the second quarter to give Mountain Home its first lead, but the Wildcats went back out to a 29-25 lead with 4:50 left in the half.

The Tigers then went on a 13-2 run to go up 38-31 and took a 38-35 lead into the locker room at the half.

Mountain Home stretched its lead to 50-42 with 2:03 left in the third quarter, but the Wildcats fought back to within three, 51-48, after three.

Columbia managed to tie the game at 51-51 with 6:52 left. A basket and free throw by Alex Campbell put the Tigers back up, 54-51, with 6:40 left.

After Spenser Hall scored to narrow the Tiger lead to one, 54-53, Mountain Home went on a 17-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to go up 71-53.

Coach Kerfoot then went to his bench and Columbia would score the final eight points of the game to make it a 71-61 final.

"Columbia's tough over here," said Coach Kerfoot in radio comments after the game. "That was a heck of a ball game. A lot of points scored. They got up and down the floor and I thought we did, too.

"What I've expected all along and kind of where I want to be playing is to get up and score around 70 points a ballgame, and we're starting to round into that form."

D.J. Elliott led the Tigers in scoring with 20 points, Alex Campbell added 12 points and had 12 rebounds. David Bitrick set a new season high with 11 points, Danny Snelgrow added nine, Kyle Kerfoot scored six, Logan Monasterio had five, Trevor Woodruff had four and Chris Maholick and Deion Brown both scored two.

The win improved the Tigers to 7-9 on the season and 6-5 in conference play, improving them to a tie for third in conference with Bishop Kelly, whom the Tigers faced last night at Bishop Kelly.

The Tigers host top ranked and unbeaten Skyview tomorrow night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home steps out of conference play Saturday, traveling up to Hailey to face the Wood River Wolverines for a 5 p.m. game.