Tigers lose by 2 to Middleton, but defeat Nampa

The Mountain Home Tigers dropped another two-point game last Tuesday night, but came away with a win at home against Nampa Friday night to earn of split of their conference games last week.

Middleton 51

Mtn. Home 49

The ever improving Mountain Home Tigers had another one get away from them last Tuesday night at Middleton as they came up on the short end of a 51-49 contest with the Vikings.

The Tigers had another strong start, shooting out to a 10-point lead, and led 17-10 after a quarter.

Mountain Home went scoreless the final 2:44 of the second quarter and saw a 24-18 lead turn into a 29-24 halftime deficit.

A 7-0 run to start the third quarter put the Tigers up,31-29. They stretched their lead to 39-34 before Middleton rallied to come within one, 39-38, after three quarters.

The lead went back and fourth in the fourth quarter, with the Tigers taking their last lead, 46-44, on a trey by Nick Barrie, with 5:15 left in the ball game. That would be the Tigers last basket until Kyle Kerfoot's trey with two seconds left, which made it a 51-49 final, with Middleton on top.

"It was a battle," said Mountain Home Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot after the game.

"I thought we came out and did some good things early but I thought we kind of relaxed, and then we got into some foul trouble in the second quarter. It cost us a little bit. We got that back real quick (in the third quarter), but then we forgot how we got it back, and we've just got to make sure we continue to get a flow and go with what gets us there.

"We get up and then we forget where we're going or what we're doing and start attacking too quick. I guess we've just got to learn and get a little bit more experience."

Jake Posey and Nick Barrie both scored in double figures, Posey had 14, Barrie, 13. Kyle Kerfoot added seven points, Travis Gordon, six, Alex Campbell, four, Jake Hiler and Chris Maholick both scored two, and Jordan Cisna had one point.

Tigers 49

Nampa 44

The Mountain Home Tigers showed the promise of things to come Friday night when they downed the Nampa Bulldogs, 49-44, in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home took an early lead, but a 5-0 run at the end of the quarter gave the Bulldogs a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Mountain Home regained the lead in the second quarter, building up a 24-19 lead with 2:55 left in the half, but an 8-2 run by Nampa gave the Bulldogs a 27-26 lead at halftime.

The Tigers fell behind by eight midway through the third quarter, but battled back within two, 35-33, heading into the final quarter.

Nampa built their lead back to seven before the Tigers got on the scoreboard in the fourth. After Todd Lewandowski's basket put Nampa up, 42-37, with five minutes left in the game, the Tigers went on a 12-0 run to go up, 49-42. Lewandowski scored at the buzzer to make it a 49-44 final, as Mountain Home avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs.

Coach Kerfoot was proud of the way his Tigers came through with the win.

"There for a while things weren't quite going our way. That was one where we kind of had to persevere and get things going back our way, and I thought the kids did that.

"Defensively, when you keep people under 50 (points), you've got a chance to win."

Nick Barrie and Alex Campbell led the Tigers in scoring, Barrie had 16 points, Campbell, 12. Jake Posey added eight points, Kyle Kerfoot and Jake Hiler each had five, Travis Gordon, two, and Jordan Cisna, one.

The win improved the Tigers to 3-5 in conference play and 4-9 overall. The Tigers entertained Jerome last night at home, and are home to Kuna on Friday night.

Coach Kerfoot hopes to keep the wins coming the second time around in conference play.

"I think we all feel we're capable of doing that if we get it together and we just start rounding the edges off, I think we have a very good chance of more of a winning record the backside of the league and then a lot of momentum built to go to the district tournament."