Tigers rally against Emmett but lose to Middleton

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Mountain Home Tigers came away with a split of their boys basketball games last week, edging Emmett at home and losing at Middleton.

Tigers 53, Huskies 52

The Emmett Huskies got hot from three-point land Tuesday night in the fourth quarter, but Mountain Home hung on for a 53-52 conference win in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and led 10-8 after a quarter. They fell behind, 15-11, early in the second quarter, but a 14-0 run over a four-minute stretch pushed them to a 25-15 lead. They led 27-21 at the half.

Mountain Home stretched its lead to 12 points in the third quarter and took a 41-30 lead into the final period. The Tigers enjoyed their biggest lead of the night, 51-36, with 3:41 left in the game.

Tyler Wright sank two free throws with 3:14 left in the game to give the Tigers a 53-39 lead. Mountain Home would not score again but Emmett hit four treys down the stretch, two in the final 30 seconds, to whittle the lead down to one, making it a 53-52 final.

For not having played in 18 days, Tiger coach Tony Kerfoot saw some good things in the game.

"I'm not saying everything went exactly the way we had it planned," the coach said, "but I thought we did a good job with several different things. Obviously, closing the game was not one of those.

"One real positive, J.T. Cristobal started shooting the ball the way I thought he was capable of ­-- he hasn't been doing that -- so that was kind of a new beginning for him," Kerfoot said. "We did some other things pretty well, but we'd collected quite a bit of rust."

Tyler Wright led the Tigers in scoring with 18 points and Aaron Hobbs added 14. Tyler Casey and J.T. Cristobal both scored eight points, Anthony Barboza scored three and Justin Connolly added two.

The Tigers shot 38 percent (21-55) from the field, including only one of nine long balls. They shot 71 percent (10/14) from the free-throw line.

Emmett made only one of seven three-point shots through the first three quarters, but put in five of eight in the fourth quarter. They shot 38 percent (18/47) from the field, including six of 15 treys. They shot 63 percent (10/16) from the foul line.

Vikings 62, Tigers 46

The Tigers had a good first quarter at Middleton Friday night, lost the lead in the second quarter and never were able to regain it, losing to the Vikings 62-46 in conference action.

Mountain Home overcame an early deficit to build up a 17-12 lead after a quarter, but the Vikings struck for 21 second-quarter points to take a 33-25 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Tigers rallied in the third, coming within two, 34-32, before Tyler Wright picked up two questionable fouls to go to the bench with four.

Middleton outscored the Tigers 11-2 the rest of the quarter to take a 45-34 lead into the fourth.

Mountain Home never was able to mount any type of a rally, as they lost to the Vikings 62-46.

"I thought we started well, but lost a bit of intensity in the second quarter," said Coach Kerfoot. "Tyler Wright was having a great game, but when he picked up those two quick fouls in the third, we had to take him out, and no one picked up the slack offensively."

Middleton's got talent on the court, the coach added.

"You've got to keep the defensive pressure on or they'll take it to you, and (Dakota) Mortensen certainly did that," he said. "Then we found ourselves in a hole and unable to come back. I think the game showed us that we're capable of playing with them, and once we get healthier, maybe we can take it to them."

Tyler Wright led Mountain Home in scoring with 21 points -- a new season high. Anthony Barboza and Aaron Hobbs both scored seven. Tyler Casey added five and Brent Sexauer, J.T. Cristobal and Justin Connolly each scored two points.

Mountain Home shot 38 percent from the field, including two of six treys, and shot eight-for-12 from the free-throw line.

Middleton pumped in 51 percent of their shots, including two of seven treys. They hit 12 of 16 of their free throws.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-6 on the season and 1-3 in league play. They host Nampa Thursday night and travel to Kuna on Saturday.

"Those are two games that I think we have a really good chance of picking up some wins if we can continue to improve," said Coach Kerfoot.

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