Tigers snap losing skid with win over Caldwell

The Mountain Home Tigers once again used the Caldwell Cougars to snap a losing skid.

Early in the season (Dec. 11, 2013), the Tigers snapped a 31-game losing skid with a 45-31 win at Caldwell.

Tuesday night, the Tigers said goodbye to a 10-game skid with their 52-25 win in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home 52, Caldwell 25

Tuesday night's Mountain Home-Caldwell game loomed big for both teams as far as the post season goes. The Tigers went into the game in eighth place in the conference standings by virtue of their earlier 45-31 victory over Caldwell at Caldwell, a game ahead of the Cougars for the eighth and final spot in the District III 4A Tournament next month.

"I told them this is what teams have to do," said Tiger boys basketball coach Brion Bethel. "All year long we've been close and they've worked so hard, and this is the night -- everything you've worked for comes to a head."

The Tigers responded from the word go, shooting to an 8-0 lead, and led 16-5 after a quarter. A 15-4 edge in the second quarter put the lead at 31-9 at the half.

After building the lead to 47-18 heading into the fourth quarter, the Tigers enjoyed their biggest lead at 51-20 with just over five minutes remaining, instituting the running clock the rest of the way and finishing with a 52-25 final score.

"I'm really proud of the kids," Bethel said after the game. "The kids worked so hard -- I wish I could say us coaches did it, but we just got out of their way and they went out and played a heck of a game. I'm really proud of them. This is a turning point for us. We know we can do these things.

"We've been in position to score points before, we've just always missed open layups," the coach added. "Tonight, I thought we did a good job of hitting our open shots and blocking out on the boards. They did a really good job."

Christian Riedel led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points, Tyler Park netted 10. Jarek Schetzle added nine, AJ Daniels had a season-high six points, AJ Woodruff and Devin Wright both scored four, Brandon Reyes, two, and Ibraheem "Pete" Ramadan and Garrett McKenzie both had one point.

Bishop Kelly 51,

Mountain Home 37

Bishop Kelly took the lead for good in the second quarter and held off the scrappy undermanned Tigers 51-37 Friday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Tigers were without six-foot, five-inch post Jose Rodriguez, who is out for the rest of the season due to an injury, and six-foot, nine-inch post Jarek Schetzle saw limited action due to an ankle sprain he suffered in the Caldwell win.

Mountain Home battled the Knights tough in the first quarter, with four lead changes and two ties, including 12-12 at the end of the quarter.

A 7-0 run by Bishop Kelly to start the second quarter gave the Knights a commanding lead and they led the rest of the way. It was 29-21, Knights, at halftime.

A trey by AJ Woodruff and a basket and free throw by Devin Wright to start the third quarter brought the Tigers back within two, at 29-27, with 6:09 left in the third quarter.

The Knights hit two baskets to push the lead to six, and a trey by Christian Riedel cut it to 33-30 with 2:36 left in the quarter, but Mountain Home would not score again until AJ Daniels hit a free throw with 3:05 left in the game, a time frame of 7:31 -- almost a whole quarter -- as the Knights built their lead to 42-31.

Mountain Home's lone field goal in the fourth quarter came with 1:16 left to make it 47-37. Bishop Kelly closed out the scoring with four free throws to make it a 51-37 final.

"We just couldn't get our offense going tonight and we couldn't execute our offense, Coach Bethel said. "We came out kind of flat in the fourth quarter and we didn't do the things we should have been doing and it just bit us in the butt. They worked hard, we just didn't execute very well -- that goes back to us coaches -- we've got to do a better job at practices getting our guys to execute under those kinds of conditions. No excuses, we've just got to do a better job."

AJ Woodruff led the Tigers with 12 points, Tyler Park and AJ Daniels both added seven, Devin Wright five, Christian Riedel three, Chris Wright two and Garrett McKenzie one.

The Tigers are now 2-10 in conference and 2-14 overall. They have just one game this week, a Friday night conference game at Middleton.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," said Coach Bethel of the week between games. "We've got a lot of guys injured and a lot of guys sick, and so we've got to work on some cohesiveness within the group again, so it couldn't have come at a better time."

In related news, the Mountain Home News continues it weekly series by taking a closer look at the Mountain Home Tigers boys varsity basketball team.

Ibraheem "Pete" Ramadan

Ibraheem "Pete" Ramadan is a six-foot, two-inch senior. The son of Margaret Milford, his hobbies include hanging out with friends, eating and sleeping.

His goals for the season are to "play one a game," and his future goal is to "dunk the ball over Jarek (Schetzle)."