Tiger boys team finally breaks into win column

It took half the season, but the Mountain Home Tigers finally made it into the win column in boys basketball -- and it wasn't against a lower-level team or at home.

The Tigers handed the Middleton Vikings their second straight conference loss Friday night, 58-53, at Middleton.

Earlier in the week the Tigers had lost badly at Kuna for their tenth loss in ten games.

Kavemen 58

Tigers 24

It turned into a battle of extremes Tuesday night at Kuna when it came to shooting. One team was hot, the other cold. The result was a 58-24 win for Kuna.

"They came out shooting pretty good," said Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot of Kuna's shooting effort. "I don't know how many they missed in the first half, but it wasn't very many -- and I don't think we had our best game defensively either.

"I thought for the first couple minutes we were matching them, but I think they fired up a little bit on every (made shot), and we got dejected on every miss. By the end of the first quarter, they were playing a lot harder than we were, and that's something where we've just got to get a little mentally tougher. If we miss, then we've got to keep on playing hard until we make (a shot).

"I thought we let up a little bit, and I think that's why it got a little out of hand."

Kuna made eight of 14 (57 percent) of its field goals in the first quarter to cruise to a 20-8 first quarter lead, and shot 62 percent (8/13) in the second quarter to up the lead to 40-18 at the half. The Kavemen ended the night shooting 51 percent (23/45) from the field, including hitting five of 13 (38 percent) three-point shots.

Mountain Home shot a frigid 19 percent (8/43) from the field, hitting just two of 18 (18 percent) long balls.

Brent Sexauer led the Tigers scoring effort with nine points. Dion Salinas added four, Ricky Castillo and Tony McKenzie three apiece, Tyler Elliott and Luke Filipovich two each and Alex Rodriguez one.

The taller Kuna team dominated the boards, 34-21. Ricky Castillo led the Tigers with eight rebounds.

Tigers 58

Vikings 53

After Tuesday night's loss at Kuna, the Tigers had a team meeting -- which had a theme of basically, "Enough is enough!"

Add to that some new wrinkles by Coach Kerfoot and Mountain Home looked like a different team Friday night. The result was a 58-53 win.

The first quarter saw the Tigers stay close, but trail 12-11 heading into the second quarter. A trey by Porter Bennett to start the quarter put Middleton up,15-11, but then the Tigers went on a 14-0 run to lead 25-15. It was 28-21, Mountain Home, at halftime.

Mountain Home enjoyed its biggest lead of the night in the third quarter, 38-25, and led 47-36 heading into the fourth.

The Tigers maintained their 11-point lead, 55-44, with over two minutes left, before Middleton made its charge. With 16.9 seconds left, two free throws by Dominic Sexton cut the lead to 55-53.

Ricky Castillo made one of two free throws with 12 seconds left to make it 56-53, and after Middleton failed to score on their end, Michael Daniels hit two free throws to make it 58-53 with 7.2 seconds left.

A three-point attempt by Middleton failed to go down and the buzzer sounded with Mountain Home prevailing.

"The kids did a heck of a job and we've been working for it. I've said that many times -- it's there in practice, but it hasn't been in games. Tonight it was there in the game," said Coach Kerfoot in comments after the game.

"It got a little scary in the end, but we made some plays to come back and save it, too. They're not perfect, but tonight they were good enough.

"We had contributions all the way through the lineup. Tony McKenzie may have had the least amount of minutes on the floor, but he was ready every time he came in and produced. Luke (Filipovich) had a great game for us tonight -- that's the best he's looked -- and it was all the way through. We had guys step in and they're starting to contribute. Early in the year, they weren't ready at all.

Hats off to them. They've done a good job. They've been working for it (and) it's nice to see them get a reward."

Brent Sexauer and Ricky Castillo both scored 14 points for the Tigers. Michael Daniels and Luke Filipovich both added eight. For Filipovich, it was a new season-high.

J.T. Cristobal scored five points on the night, Tyler Elliott and Tony McKenzie had four each and Dion Salinas one.

The Tigers shot 42 percent (22/53) from the field and hit 25 percent (4/16) of their three-point shots. They hit 71 percent (10/14) from the free-throw line.

Middleton connected on 36 percent (19/53) of their shots, hitting four of 17 (24 percent) treys and just 50 percent (11/22) of their foul shots.

Middleton won the rebound battle 32-20. Brent Sexauer led the Tigers on the boards with five, followed by Ricky Castillo with four.

The win put the Tigers 1-6 in conference and 1-10 overall.

They hosted Emmett Tuesday night to close out the first time through their conference schedule. They are at Columbia Thursday night, and home against Nampa Saturday night.

Coach Kerfoot hopes the confidence boost of their win at Middleton can pay off with wins this week.

"We know we're capable of getting those. We were kind of waiting for that. This one (Middleton) was kind of a 'hey, we're going to throw it out there and see how much we could improve,' and I like what I saw."