Tigers claw Century, Bonneville but fall to Burley

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Mountain Home won two of three games last week at the Twin Falls Holiday Tournament, beating Century and Bonneville before losing to Burley for the championship.

Mountain Home 60, Century 51

Mountain Home outscored Century 22-10 in the fourth quarter for a 60-51 win in the Twin Falls Holiday Tourney opener on Dec. 29 at Twin Falls High School.

Mountain Home shot out to an early 5-0 lead and led 15-14 after a quarter, then battled back from a five-point deficit in the second quarter to take a 26-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Century hit three three-point buckets in the third quarter to go into the fourth up 41-38. Mountain Home regained the lead early in the fourth quarter, only to fall back behind, 46-44, with 4:50 left in the game.

That's when the Tigers got a basket and free throw from Christen Riedel, a trey by AJ Woodruff, and baskets by Jarek Schetzle and Tyler Park, to go on a 10-0 run and up the lead to 54-46 with 3:03 left in the game.

Century could come no closer tha six after that, as the Tigers won 60-51.

"It was a good win for us," said Tiger basketball coach Brion Bethel. "We did a lot of things good tonight, and a lot of things not so good. We still aren't satisfied with where we're at and believe we still have a long way to go to reach our full potential."

Jarek Schetzle led the Tigers' scoring attack with 16 points. Tyler Park added 10 with Marcus Egusquiza and Christen Riedel both scoring six. Meanwhile, Jermaine Smith, AJ Woodruff and Jymon Garretson had five piece, Garrett McKenzie, four, and Brion Bethel Jr. finished the game with three points.

Mountain Home 79, Bonneville 74

(3 OT)

Mountain Home faced the Bonneville Bees in the second day of the Twin Falls Tournament, and battled the 5A Bees through three overtime periods before pulling out a 79-74 victory.

The Tigers shot out to an early 9-2 lead and led 11-6 after a quarter.

The two teams pretty much went basket for basket in the second quarter, with the Tigers going into the locker room at half-time, up, 26-22.

Two treys by Jymon Garretson and a basket by Tyler Park to start the third quarter put the Tigers up 34-22 with 6:14 left in the third quarter, but Mountain Home would score just one point the rest of the quarter, as the Bees came back to tie the game at 35-35, heading into the fourth period.

The fourth quarter had 11 lead changes and six ties, with scoring in the final seven seconds to tie the game at 57-57 and send the game into overtime.

Both teams managed four points in the first overtime period to make it 61-61 and force a second overtime.

The second four-minute period saw both teams score five, sending it into a third overtime, tied at 66-66.

Mountain Home took the lead early in the third overtime period, and trailed only once, at 74-73. From there, the Tigers would score six straight points to pull away for a 79-74 win.

"Our guys really gutted out a win tonight," said Coach Bethel after the game. "Every one of them gave everything they had. I'm happy that their preparation and hard work is paying off. We still have work to do to be the team we believe we can be, and wins like this help us know we're on the right track."

Three Tigers ended the night scoring in double figures, led by Christen Riedel with 16. Tyler Park and Garrett McKenzie both netted 15 points. Park led the Tigers with eight rebounds. AJ Woodruff and Jymon Garretson both scored nine and Jarek Schetzle each had four points. Shetzle fouled out in the fourth quarter with six blocked shots and five rebounds. Marcus Egusquiza added three points and Brion Bethel Jr. and Chris Wright both scored two points.

Burley 71, Tigers 59

The Bonneville win put the Tigers in the championship game of the tourney against Burley on Dec. 31. Playing their third game in three days -- their last one going an extra 12 minutes -- the Tigers were not as sharp and fell to the Bobcats, 71-59.

Mountain Home led 13-11 after a quarter, but were down 35-31 at the half, and trailed 44-39, heading into the fourth. They responded with 20 points in the final quarter, but the Bobcats put in 27 points to widen the gap, and beat the Tigers 71-59.

"We just didn't play well," said Coach Bethel. "The boys were tired and we didn't have our normal intensity. (We) coaches didn't have them prepared very well for Burley's offense."

Three Tigers scored in double figures as Marcus Egusquiza led the way with 15 points, Jarek Schetzle had 14 and Christen Riedel 13. Jymon Garretson added six, Jermaine Smith five, Tyler Park four and Brion Bethel Jr. two.

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