Tiger hoopsters go two and out at state tourney

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Mountain Home Tigers fought hard, but went out of the State 4A Boys Basketball Tournament in two games at Borah High School.

Jerome 64

Mtn. Home 42

The Mountain Home Tigers met up with the Jerome Tigers in the first round of the State 4A Boys Basketball Tournament at Borah last Thursday evening. It was the third meeting of the season for the two, and Mountain Home was hoping for the third time being the charm, but a bad fourth quarter offensively dashed any hopes of that, as Jerome won again, this time 64-42.

After Alex Campbell's basket tied the game at 2-2 in the first minute of play, the Jerome Tigers went on a 16-0 run before Trevor Woodruff's basket with 3:32 left made it 18-4. Jerome led 24-13 after a quarter.

Mountain Home battled back in the second quarter and chipped away at the Jerome lead, coming within three, 33-30, with 1:47 left in the half. Kevin Williams scored twice to push the lead to 37-30, Jerome, at the half.

Jerome increased its lead to 44-32 midway through the third quarter, and took a 51-40 lead into the final quarter.

Jerome hit four of six shots from the field and five of six free throws in the fourth quarter as they extended their lead. Mountain Home hit just one of 15 from the field in the fourth, that coming on a basket by Deion Brown with 1:55 left in the game, as Mountain Home fell to Jerome 64-42.

"We survived the early run, and then we kind of came back and started playing real well," said Mountain Home Tiger coach Tony Kerfoot.

"I think we kind of got tired and we weren't doing much defensively to slow them down in the second half, and that fourth quarter, I think we just kind of ran out of gas. Offensively, we were just kind of standing around. When they went to the zone, we didn't do anything to attack that. Occasionally we'd get a shot that we didn't have, and all our perimeter people looking to shoot, but nobody really would want to step up and attack the zone, so our offensive scheme against the zone wasn't very good at all."

Alex Campbell led the Tigers scoring with 13 points, D.J. Elliott added eight points, David Bitrick scored five, Danny Snelgrow, Logan Monasterio and Trevor Woodruff each added four points, and Kyle Kerfoot and Deion Brown both scored two.

The Tigers shot just 28 percent (15/54) from the field, were a frigid 13 percent (2/15) on treys, and hit 83 percent (10-12) from the free throw line.

Jerome ended up shooting 44 percent (22/50) from the field, including 28 percent (5/18) on three-pointers, and shot 71 percent (15/21) from the foul line.

Blackfoot 52

Mtn Home 45

The Jerome loss put the Tigers in the consolation bracket against Blackfoot, which had lost in double overtime to Skyview. A bad third quarter did the Tigers in this time, as they lost to the Broncos 52-45.

Mountain Home led most of the first quarter, but trailed 12-11 after a quarter. The Tigers went on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter to build up a 19-12 lead. They led 23-19 at halftime.

The third quarter saw the Broncos come out strong with Jordan Bjornberg scoring eight of his game-high 16 points, as Blackfoot outscored the Tigers 22-5 to build up a 41-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Tigers battled back in the fourth quarter to within five points, 48-43, with 3:14 left, but could get no closer, as the Broncos held on for the 52-45 win.

"I thought we played a great first half," said Coach Kerfoot after the game. "The third quarter we kind of lost our intensity a little bit, I thought we came out and put a great effort -- that's a great state tournament game right there.

"Unfortunately, we came up on the short side, but I thought we competed. All in all, I'd like to come and get a win at state, but I think we showed we can compete at this level, we've just got to do it for four quarters."

D.J. Elliott led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points and eight rebounds, Alex Campbell added 11 points, Kyle Kerfoot scored seven, and Danny Snelgrow and Trevor Woodruff both added six points to round out the scoring.

The Tigers shot 33 percent (18/54) from the field, a measly 11 percent (2/19) on treys, and just 54 percent (7/13) from the free-throw line.

Blackfoot shot 51 percent (19/37) from the field, including 30 percent (3/10) on long balls, but made just 50 percent (11/22) from the foul line.

The loss ended the season for the Tigers, who finished 12-14 overall.

Coach Kerfoot loses some good seniors, but likes the prospects for the future of Mountain Home Tiger basketball.

"After our last regular season game, our JV players were saying, 'hey, I think we can win our (district) tournament!', and our sophomores were saying the same thing, and the frosh-soph team, they won the sophomore tournament, and the JVs had a winning record, and these seniors, they kind of broke the ground, and although they didn't quite get a winning record on the season, we did get to the state tournament, and to me, that's a winning season right there.

"The future looks good. We've tread some new ground this year, and hopefully, some of the other guys see that and they'll want to get back here."

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    Congrats on a good season guys! Seniors we will miss you and miss seeing oyu on the court! Alex good job I really enjoyed watching you and Chris, Logan, Kyle you as well! You will be missed and I wish you all the success in whatever you may do in the future, if it is going to the next level or getting a good education, whatever it may be good luck and hope to see you in the future to all of the seniors, Alex, Kyle, Jared, Dalon, Chris, Logan, DJ, and Danny. And t6o the returners to watch next yr remember always stay positive and play for the title next year, Trevor, Brock, David, and Deion, and whoever makes it to that level. Eyes will be watching you and good luck to all and Thank you for a good season!!! I wish you all success in the future!

    -- Posted by Bostonfan on Wed, Mar 11, 2009, at 9:45 AM
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