Tigers bolster season record, thwart Jerome, Emmett

The steadily improving Mountain Home Tigers picked up their first two wins of the season last week with road wins at Jerome and Emmett.

Mountain Home 52, Jerome 44

After getting beaten 71-38 by the Jerome Tigers a week earlier at Mountain Home, the Mountain Home Tigers turned the tables on Jerome, downing them 52-44 at Jerome last Tuesday.

Jerome's transition game was impressive in its win over Mountain Home the first time, but Tuesday night it was Mountain Home's transition game that was impressive.

Mountain Home went on a 7-1 run the last two minutes of the first quarter to go up 14-8 after a quarter. The transition game then helped them shoot out to a 31-15 advantage at halftime.

Mountain Home kept Jerome at bay in the third quarter, and despite hitting just six of 19 free throws in the fourth quarter, the Tigers held off Jerome 52-44 for the win.

"I thought we played great defensively -- a lot of improvement there," said Mountain Home Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot after the game.

"Offensively, we're starting to be a lot more patient and see stuff. We weren't trying to score a hundred points tonight, we were shooting for about 55, and I think that showed in a lot of things that we were doing. Had we made some free throws, we would have got there."

Trevor Woodruff led a balanced scoring attack with nine points. Cody Ramos netted eight points, Colton Zamora and Tyler Wright both added seven. Zamora had 10 rebounds.

Aaron Hobbs scored six points, and Anthony Castillo, David Bitrick and Deion Brown each scored five points.

Mountain Home shot 45 percent (19/42) from the field, including two of five (40 percent) outside the arc, but were a dismal 39 percent (12/31) from the free-throw line for the game.

Jerome shot just 33 percent (16/48) from the field and put up 22 long balls, converting on only five (23 percent). They shot 47 percent (7/15) from the foul line.

Mountain Home 51, Emmett 45

Mountain Home took the lead for good in the second quarter, and held off the Emmett Huskies 51-45 Friday night at Emmett in conference action.

The Tigers trailed 8-7 after a quarter, but a 6-0 run midway through the second quarter gave the Tigers the lead for good, although it remained close. Mountain Home took a 24-22 lead into the locker room at halftime and extended it to 34-31 heading into the fourth.

Free-throw shooting, which was a problem for the Tigers down the stretch at Jerome, came through big for them in the fourth quarter as they hit seven of nine to hold off the Huskies for the 51-45 win.

Coach Kerfoot was pleased with his team's effort against the Huskies.

"Defensively, I thought we worked at it. They've got some shooters.... Offensively, I think we were set back a little bit in losing David (Bitrick, who went out with a leg injury early in the game). We were shuffling a little bit there at the guards, so that made things a little bit different, but, hey, we made a few free throws at the end of the game or it would have been real ugly."

Trevor Woodruff led Mountain Home in scoring with a season-high 16 points. Tyler Wright had a season-high 10 points. Anthony Castillo had six points, all in the fourth quarter. Colton Zamora netted five, Cody Ramos, Brock Morris and Aaron Hobbs each scored four and Deion Brown had two points.

Mountain Home attempted just six three-point shots, making one of them for 17 percent. They shot 39 percent (19/49) inside the arc, and hit 59 percent (10/17) from the free-throw line.

Emmett shot a torrid 58 percent (7/12) on long balls but were just 28 percent (9/32) inside the circle. They shot 67 percent (6/9) from the foul line.

Mountain Home controlled the battle of the boards 36-23, led by Tyler Wright with nine rebounds, Deion Brown with eight and Colton Zamora with six.

The win improved the Tigers to 2-4 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.

Mountain Home is off for the holidays, returning to action Jan. 5 at home against Middleton and traveling to Nampa on Jan. 8 to face the Bulldogs.