Tigers break 31-game loss streak, beat Caldwell

by Alvin Powers

Mountain Home News

Jan. 21, 2012. An important date in Mountain Home Tiger boys basketball history. On that night, the Tigers downed the Nampa Bulldogs, 55-49. The win was Mountain Home's third in their last four games and put them at 3-11 on the season.

Unfortunately, it would be the last Mountain Home Tiger win, as they lost their last six regular season games, and went out of the district tourney in two straight games.

Are you counting? That's eight straight. Add to that last year's 0-20 season -- that makes 28 -- and an 0-3 start to this year equals 31 straight losses.

Dec. 11, 2013. Another important date in Mountain Home Tiger boys basketball history. On that night, at Caldwell High School, the Tigers defeated the Caldwell Cougars 45-31, ending the 31-game losing streak.

"I tell you what, I'm so proud of those guys," said a happy Tigers head coach Brion Bethel after the game.

"We made a lot of mistakes tonight, but the guys, like always, they never gave up, they kept fighting, and these guys have the heart of a Tiger and it's obvious," the coach added. "They just keep fighting and fighting and the assistant coaches did a great job getting them prepared and the guys executed, so we did 'em a favor, and us coaches didn't mess it up for them this time."

Mountain Home scored the first points of the game on Tyler Park's basket with 5:10 left in the first quarter. The Tigers led 6-, at the end of a hard-fought, physical eight minutes.

Caldwell took its only lead, 7-6, on a basket by Josh Grover with 6:56 left to go in the first half, but AJ Woodruff drilled a trey 15 seconds later to give Mountain Home the lead back, part of a 15-1 run that put them in control 21-8 at halftime.

Caldwell's hacking defense made trying to get the ball inside to the Tigers' posts, Jarek Schetzle and Jose Rodriguez, difficult at best, resulting in numerous turnovers, but that's not to say they didn't stop trying. Tyler Park came through big-time with clutch points as the Tigers matched Caldwell's defensive effort, keeping the Cougars from being able to mount any kind of a rally or get many points off turnovers.

"One of the things we've been working on is pressure in the back court, and we had a good matchup tonight with who we had and who they had, and we felt it was a good time to work on our full-court pressure. We knew it'd be important in getting this win, and the kids executed great -- I can't ask for more. We got a few fouls, but that's going to happen when you play aggressive basketball," said Coach Bethel.

The Tigers maintained their double-digit lead in the second half and led 30-19 after three quarters. They led by as many as 17 points in the fourth, finishing with a 45-31 win.

Tyler Park and Jarek Schetzle led the Tigers scoring with 16 and 13 points respectively. AJ Woodruff netted six, Garrett McKenzie and Christian Riedel both added three, and Jose Rodriguez and Devin Wright each had two points.

Bishop Kelly 65,

Mountain Home 41

Mountain Home went scoreless for over five and a half minutes of the second quarter Friday night as Bishop Kelly pulled away and went on to a 65-41 win over the Tigers in an SIC 4A conference contest at Bishop Kelly.

Mountain Home started slow, trailing 7-0 before Tyler Parks' basket got them on the scoreboard with 4:13 left in the first quarter.

The Knights extended their lead to 16-3 with two minutes left in the quarter before Mountain Home went on a 13-4 run that brought them back to within four, 20-16, with 5:33 left in the first half.

It would be the last points the Tigers would score in the half, as Bishop Kelly went on a 16-0 run to take a 36-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The closest the Tigers got in the second half was 14, at 39-25, with 4:48 left in the third quarter, before a 14-4 run by Bishop Kelly made it 53-29, Knights, after three.

Bishop Kelly went on to win 65-41.

Coach Bethel thought the second quarter did them in.

"Yeah, we just dug ourselves a hole in that second quarter. I think we got a little lackadaisical -- missed some easy shots, gave up some easy shots. BK ran a very good offense. They kept us guessing on where they were going to be and we were just losing guys under the basket.

"But the guys played hard. They did the best they could."

AJ Woodruff led the Tigers with a season-high 17 points. Tyler Park added eight points, Garrett McKenzie and Jarek Schetzle both had six, and Jose Rodriguez and Devin Wright rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.

The Tigers had a rough night shooting and hit just six of 18 shots (33 percent) from the free-throw line.

"We struggled from the line tonight, we struggled with way too many turnovers that were unforced, and we really struggled just finding our guy, and really that's a testament to BK and how good they run their offense," said Bethel.

"Our guys fought hard, and the thing I like the most is you come out in the fourth quarter and we're down by 20 points and you can't tell who's winning by the way they're playing. To me that says a lot about the character of the kids we have."

Mountain Home is now 1-4 on the season, and 1-2 in conference play. They close out their pre-holiday break schedule Friday night at home against Jerome.

"We've got a good five days off, so we get a good five days of practice. We'll be ready," said Coach Bethel.

After Friday's game, the Tigers will be off until Jan. 7 when they host Middleton.

The Mountain Home News continues its series of taking a closer look at the Mountain Home Tigers boys varsity basketball team.

Devin Wright

Devin Wright is a six-foot, five-inch senior post, the son of Eric and Kimberly Wright.

Devin's hobbies include fishing, hunting and anything sports.

Devin's main goal for the season is to, "play to the best of my ability."

When asked about his goals after high school, he replied, "Serve a full-time LDS mission, go to college and hopefully play ball where I go."