Second-half rally allows Jerome to slip past Tigers

The Jerome Tigers exploded for 29 points in the fourth quarter -- 22 of them from the free throw line -- to come back and beat the Mountain Home Tigers on Friday in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium at Mountain Home High School.

Mountain Home got off to a great start, shooting out to a 10-0 lead with an eight-point advantage after a quarter.

The home Tigers scored just six points in the second quarter but still led the visiting Tigers from Jerome, 22-19, at the half. The lead went back and forth in the third quarter, but a trey by Christian Riedel in the closing seconds put Mountain Home up, 34-31, heading into the fourth.

Treyson Thomas hit a trey to tie and a basket to put Jerome up, 36-34, in the first minute of the quarter. AJ Woodruff drained a trey to give Mountain Home a 37-36 lead with 6:31 left in the game.

From there, Jerome outscored Mountain Home, 24-10, their last 22 points, all from the free throw line. They finished the quarter at 22 of 29 for the 60-47 win.

"That seems to be a common thing with us" -- the Tigers start out strong but failing to finish, said Mountain Home coach Brion Bethel after the game of his Tigers starting strong, but failing to finish. "They come out and work hard -- we got every shot we wanted again -- missed a lot of easy shots, a lot of easy second-chance shots, and the game just got away from us."

Christian Riedel led Mountain Home in scoring with 14 points, including four three-pointers. AJ Woodruff netted 12 points, Tyler Park, eight, Jose Rodriguez, six, Garrett McKenzie, four, Devin Wright, two, and Jarek Schetzle had one point.

The loss drops the Tigers to 1-5 on the season. They are off now until Jan. 7, when the host Middleton in conference action.

"We're really going to have to step our game up," Bethel said. "We've got 10 to 14 days to try to get better at a lot of things and keep these guys in shape so we can get ready for Middleton. Middleton's going to be tough. We've got to prepare -- we've got to get better."

The Mountain Home News continues its weekly series of looking at the Mountain Home Tiger boys basketball team.

BRANDON REYES

Brandon Reyes is a five-foot, 10-inch senior. The son of Macario and Oralia Reyes, his hobbies include football, basketball, video games and "chillin' with my dudes."

His goals for the season are to "be as good of a team player as I can."

The senior's future goals include going to college to major in international business.