Slam dunk ends Tigers' state hopes with loss to Kuna

Chris Smith's slam-dunk with 13 seconds left proved to be the exclamation point to the end of the Mountain Home Tigers' basketball season last Tuesday night, as the Tigers lost the lead in the final two minutes and fell 53-48 to the Kuna Kavemen at the District III 4A Boys Basketball Tournament at Bishop Kelly High School.

Mountain Home fell behind 5-0 in the first quarter before they finally scored with 4:42 left when J.T. Cristobal hit a trey. A 7-0 run to end the quarter gave the Tigers the lead at 15-13.

The lead went back and forth in the second quarter, unti another spurt near the end of the quarter put the Tigers up 29-26 at the half.

Mountain Home maintained a lead of from five to seven points throughout most of the third quarter, and took a 41-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

David Bitrick's basket a minute into the fourth quarter gave the Tigers their biggest lead, 43-34, but the turnover bug bit the Tigers hard in the final minutes as they turned the ball over nine times in the period.

Tyler Dubowsky sparked a fourth quarter rally by the Kavemen, scoring seven of his 12 points in the quarter as Kuna cut into the lead. Braden Andrus canned a trey with under two minutes left that cut the Tiger lead to 48-47.

After David Bitrick missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:20 left, Chase Hathhorn gave the Kavemen the lead, 49-48, when he scored with 50 seconds left.

After the Tigers turned the ball back over to Kuna, Michael Gordon sank two free throws with 34.5 seconds left that extended the lead to 51-48.

After another Tiger turnover, Chris Smith slammed home the win with a dunk to make it 53-48.

"They really came after the ball, hacking and slapping, and it seemed like every time the ball came out loose, they got it and scored," said Tiger coach Tony Kerfoot after the game.

"I thought we were in perfect position to win the game. We did everything we needed to, except they came and took the ball away from us at the end, and then they scored off it, too. It was kind of very disheartening.

"We played very well, and I thought we worked things. Defensively we stayed after it and we took things away from them, and we worked the ball fairly well and got good shots, but the last two minutes killed us."

Cody Ramos led the Tigers' scoring attack with 13 points. Tyler Wright netted nine, Deion Brown added eight, Anthony Castillo seven and J.T. Cristobal, David Bitrick, Brock Morris and Colton Zamora each scored three points.

Mountain Home outshot Kuna for the ball game, hitting 33 percent (4/12) on three-pointers, to Kuna's 19 percent (4/22). The Tigers also hit 46 percent (12/26) on two-pointers, to Kuna's 39 percent (14/36), and 71 percent (12/17) from the free-throw line, to Kuna's 60 percent (9/15).

The Tigers also outrebounded the Kavemen, 30-18, led by Tyler Wright with eight and Cody Ramos with seven.

With stats like that, teams usually win, but the Tigers also led in turnovers, 21-11, and committed nine of them in the fourth quarter when Kuna made their shots count.

The loss ended the Tigers season at 6-15 overall, but Coach Kerfoot said that over the season "we made a whole bunch of improvement.

"I know at the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure where my points were going to come from, and we had guys step in and fill that in,. Over the course of the season I think this is the best defensive team I've had in a number of years. I think teams averaged about 52 points a game against us, and that was very good.

"Offensively, we struggled, but lately we're up in there around the 50s every game, and actually, around 55 here lately, so we did make a lot of improvement."

With those coming back and those coming up from the JV program, Coach Kerfoot thinks the future for the program looks bright.

"I think so. We could make a lot of improvement, and there's quite a few young guys on the team also, so next year they should return with a bunch of savvy and hopefully some good experience.

"I think the next couple years could be very good for us."